Ramokgopa ‘confident’ end of load shedding ‘is near’
Despite the country being plunged back into stage 4 load shedding on Friday, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is adamant the government is making headway in resolving the country's energy crisis.
Ramokgopa spoke in Cape Town after Thursday evening’s State of the Nation Address.
"The present assignment to the minister of electricity is to first reduce the intensity, and we are ticking that box. The highest we are getting is (stage) 3. We are gradually bringing it down, and then once we have this additional generating capacity, when we return the plants from planned maintenance, we'll go to lower stages of load shedding,” said Ramokgopa.
ALSO READ: Ramokgopa: Country’s power grid remains unreliable
"I give you the assurance that It will continue to taper down to lower stages of load shedding, but that's not my assignment, it’s just the first part of my assignment. The responsibility is to end load shedding, and I'm confident the end is near.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa said during his State of the Nation Address that once new generation capacity from the private sector is added, load shedding will end.
He also said the government would build more than 14,000 km of new transmission lines to accommodate renewable energy.
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