Johannesburg - Load shedding may have left Cabinet “troubled”, but there’s nothing new they can discuss or report back to the country.
Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele briefed the media on Thursday morning on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting that took place yesterday.
While load shedding and Eskom’s serious woes never featured in the Cabinet’s final outcomes and discussions, Gungubele said that did not mean it was not on their radar.
“Load shedding and Eskom is a matter we are seized with on an ongoing basis, and to show the seriousness of government, read the statement of the President in the State of the Nation.
“Just because it is not in the statement, doesn’t mean we are not dealing with it or that we don’t care,” he said.
He said that he agreed South Africa needed to be “briefed” better when it comes to load shedding, “but there is not much new to add”.
He added that there was no doubt work was being done, but “Eskom has been in worse but was able to rise”.
The power utility announced its implementation of Stage 4 load shedding on Wednesday after a unit each at the Kendal, Duvha, Camden and Kusile power stations tripped overnight.
Eskom’s chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer said it was “critically important” to balance emergency resources to avoid a worse situation.
He said that should it run out of diesel and water, the country can reach up to stage 6 of load shedding.
At about 3.30am on Wednesday, Eskom opened its cycle gas turbines to support the system.
Open cycle gas turbines cost R700 000 per unit per hour to run and use 14 litres of diesel a second, Oberholzer said.
Giving a description of the units that are currently operating, Oberholzer said that three were running at a very high risk, 10 at a medium risk and three at a low risk.
Political Bureau