On 5 December 2019, Eskom implemented loadshedding again (before that it was last experienced on 7 November), throwing South Africa into darkness for hours on end. It has been 7 consecutive days of rolling blackouts and now, the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has stepped in. The biggest question on our minds as gamers and citizens is: When will loadshedding end and after a meeting with Eskom, Ramaphosa has the answer.
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Loadshedding update: Stage 2 will continue today (12 December) at 09:00 until 23:00 SAST.
There’s a whole lot of detail from the media briefing about loadshedding, the inner workings of Eskom and some politics were thrown into the mix. Instead of getting into all of that (you can watch the whole thing at the bottom of this article), we will just provide you with the quote from the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, answering the most important question.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#33FFDF” class=”” size=”20″] We felt that we need to have an emergency recovery plan. A recovery plan that is going to make sure that we are going to get rid of loadshedding and management has given us an assurance that they are trying to stabilize the system and get more and more of the Megawatts that we have lost to be restored. And they have given us the assurance that from 17 December right through to 13 January, we should not be in the position to have any form of loadshedding. Going right through to March, they will be seeking to do everything they can to restore the stability of the network. [/perfectpullquote]
President Ramaphosa continued that he instructed all managers and executives that all leave has been cancelled. No one goes on leave because the system needs to become stable again first. Ramaphosa also notes that sabotage is the cause of losing 2000 Megawatts of power recently and also mentioned stolen cables as one of the reasons for loadshedding. There needs to be more accountability at the management level, amongst other things.
Check out our handy “Gamer’s guide to loadshedding” if you need some help with working around the issue. As always, remember to check your area’s schedule and turn off gaming equipment around 15 minutes before it starts. Unplug your devices just in case they have trouble turning the power back on, which Eskom explained last week can take up to 30 minutes longer than the scheduled time.
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Watch the entire media briefing (nearly 90 minutes long) captured by SABC News below, as the official Eskom video they tweeted out was taken from a shaky camera phone…
