There will be no load-shedding on election day, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.
At a briefing alongside Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, Gordhan said that Eskom had taken the necessary steps to ensure that load-shedding shifted to stage 3 on Thursday, to stage 2 on Friday and stopped thereafter.
"Over the weekend load-shedding will stop. That means that as South Africans go to the polls and as the counting of votes happens, there will be no load-shedding, unless there is an unexpected event. I’m assured by the management and the board of Eskom that is unlikely," said Gordhan.
Gordhan, who apologised to the public and political parties, said he assured them that the elections would be a success.
On Wednesday, the country was in stage 4 load-shedding after Eskom reported that 15,000MW – almost half its coal-powered capacity – was in breakdown. Another 5,301MW was out on planned maintenance. The 15,000MW included 928MW from Koeberg Unit 1, which was online again and ramping up by Wednesday evening.
Asked by journalists whether it was indeed possible to make such a commitment given the unreliability of Eskom’s ageing plant, De Ruyter said that it was not possible to provide a cast-iron guarantee.
"One makes forecasts about the stability of the system with some humility and there is always residual risk in the system. I can’t give you a cast-iron guarantee," he said.
Eskom’s decision to go to stage 4 on Wednesday was informed by an intention to keep the lights on, on voting day. It was using the space to replenish diesel as well as pumped storage to prepare the system for Monday. Eskom would also refrain from doing short-term maintenance over this period to maximise plant availability. It would stick to its long-term maintenance programme, he said.
Contingency plans
Gordhan also outlined the back-up and contingency plans put in place by both Eskom and the Electoral Commission to power voting stations, counting centres and results operation centres in the event that power cuts did take place.
This includes lighting equipment for the 16,000 voting stations in Eskom-supplied areas and generators for counting and results centres.
Electricity cuts have been a dominant issue in the election, with ANC leaders confronted by hostile audiences over the problem. Load-shedding in the immediate lead-up to the election is deeply damaging to the ANC’s campaign.
Gordhan also fired a broadside at cabinet colleague mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe, saying the government’s efforts over the past two years, when the country hit stage 6 load-shedding, had lacked necessary urgency to bring additional megawatts onto the grid. Procuring more energy is strictly in the domain of Mantashe, who has shown a reluctance to opt for the quickest solutions.
Following the stage 6 incident — during which President Cyril Ramaphosa flew back from Egypt to address the problem — Mantashe promised an emergency round of procurement. But it was at least a year before the call for proposals was issued and 18 months before it was adjudicated. The procurement round – which appeared tailor-made for a bid by gas-powered powerships – is now snarled up in litigation as a disgruntled bidder accused Mantashe and his officials of corruption and is seeking to overturn the process.
The emergency round — formally called the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Programme — is effectively dead in the water. The winning bids, which went to powerships owned by Turkish company Karpowership, have also failed to get environmental approval as they are noisy, polluting and damage marine life.
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