Thousands of trucks deliver coal each day to Eskom and to railway sidings for export. Photo: Katlego Phore/GroundUp
The parastatal has implemented rotational load-shedding since last week, escalating these to Stage 4 – which means taking 4,000 megawatts off the national grid, in recent days. The chamber called on Eskom to make known the reasons behind the heavy load shedding, as well as their plans for resolving the situation as soon as possible.
Mona said at Eskom’s hand, business and residents were subjected to a way of life that was unsustainable and unacceptable. He said innovative solutions were needed to break a destructive cycle of consumers funding a dysfunctional parastatal that was unable to deliver on its primary mandate. During this time, the effects of the cyclone in Mozambique and Zimbabwe that caused havoc in both countries also resulted in the collapse of transmissions from Cahora Bassa, and Eskom moved to Stage 4 load shedding.
Closer examination is also required of the quality of coal delivered to and accepted at Eskom power stations and the further delegation of powers from Eskom’s head office to power station managers, Gordhan said.