Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said load shedding was not delayed on Monday due to ongoing protests across the country.
South Africans received some unexpected reprieve from shedding their burdens on Monday when members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and other political parties took to the streets for a national shutdown.
According to Eskom, the power outage was temporarily halted due to lower-than-expected demand for electricity.
Phase 2 of load shedding will return on Tuesday, with Eskom set to implement power cuts from 4pm.
‘Significant change’
Load shedding as Ramokgopa began touring Eskom power stations.
Speaking to the media at the Duvha Power Station in Mpumalanga, the electricity minister rejected suggestions that load shedding was not being implemented because of the EFF demonstration.
“It has nothing to do with the EFF… it’s a one-time protest,” he said Africa Newsroom.
“To get to the stage where people find it very strange to have electricity for a day or two in a row is very serious.” [energy crisis].”
With the country experiencing load shedding last weekend, Ramakgopa attributed this to an increase in the energy availability factor (EAF) at some power stations.
Also read: SA Blackout report: Skilled youth considering emigration to reduce burden
“Our intervention to deal with load shedding did not start with the electricity minister. The energy action plan is already there… all we are doing is speeding it up and of course we can see that six power plants start to pick up. [and] the energy availability factor increases.
“So that’s it [a result] from the efforts that have been made and hopefully we will see significant and tangible changes in all these power plants,” said the minister.
Ramokgopa is expected to visit Kusile and Kendal power stations on Tuesday, followed by Tutuka and Camden the following day.
On Thursday, the minister will travel to the Lethabo power station in the Free State.
He will also inspect the Koeberg power station in the Western Cape on Friday.
Court caseload
Meanwhile, the Pretoria High Court on Monday heard a legal case brought by the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and 18 others to declare the burden unlawful under the constitution.
The applicants sought an order forcing the government to release essential services such as public health institutions and schools, among others, from reducing the burden.
During the proceedings, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC, who represented the applicants, blamed the ANC government for failing to maintain the national network and create new generation capacity.
Read more: Providing electricity is Ramaphosa’s constitutional duty, not municipalities’, court says
Ngcukaitobi stressed that despite President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment during his 2022 state of the nation address (Sona) to address the electricity crisis, the government has “folded its hands and done nothing”.
He also said that the president has an obligation to ensure that the constitutional right to electricity as stated in the Bill of Rights is fulfilled.
The court case will continue until Friday.
Additional reporting by Thapelo Lekabe