Energy crisis result of ‘perfect storm’ - Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is pooling its resources to get power onto the national grid with extreme urgency.
He has blamed corruption, sabotage, and the poor maintenance of power plants for creating what he calls ‘the perfect storm at Eskom’.
The president on Monday addressed the power crisis in his weekly newsletter to South Africans.
The country's been enduring load shedding on a daily basis for months.
As load shedding continues to wreak havoc on businesses, households and communities, the last thing South Africans want to hear are excuses or unrealistic promises,” the president wrote in his newsletter.
“The demands for an immediate end to power cuts are wholly understandable. Everyone is fed up. However, we in the grip of an energy crisis that has been many years in the making. Though it may be easy to blame our present woes on dysfunctionality at Eskom, a combination of factors have contributed to the crisis.”
ALSO READ:
Ramaphosa listed a lack of investment in new generating capacity, poor power plant maintenance, corruption and criminality, rising municipal debt and a lack of suitable skills as contributing factors.
“There can be no sustainable solution without addressing all these factors in combination. We should not make the mistakes of the past.
“For many years, critical maintenance was deferred, and our power stations were run too hard in order to keep the lights on. As a country we are now paying the price for these miscalculations.
“We must be realistic about our challenges and about what it is going to take to fix them. While we all desperately want to, we cannot end load shedding overnight.“
