Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse Says She Plans to End Loadshedding and Maintain Power Supply, R26bn Needed

• Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse said the city needs R26 billion to maintain a stable power supply
• The city has a budget of R7.7 billion and planned to find investors at the City of Johannesburg's first Energy Indaba
• Mayor Phalatse said she wants to stabilize the power supply and offset loadshedding in Johannesburg

JOHANNESBURG - The Mayor of Johannesburg Mpho Phalatse said the city needs R26 billion to maintain a stable power supply. The City of Johannesburg's first Energy Indaba was held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Monday 23 May when she made the comments.

The purpose of the event is for government representatives to network with other energy experts and Independent Power Producers. The city has a budget of R7.7 billion that must be used for other infrastructure as well.

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The energy Indaba was held in the wake of South Africa being crippled by loadshedding that was implemented on Sunday afternoon 22 May. During an interview with SABC News, Phalatse said she wants to stabilize the power supply and offset loadshedding.

“The city’s infrastructure has been neglected for far too long. It was not being upgraded, not being repaired and that’s why we are dealing with so many electrical outages, but this is over the last few decades. I’ve only been mayor for five months and for five months for us to be at this point I think we’ve done really well, so yes I wish it had happened in previous administrations,” she added.

She said City power has given a figure of about 26 billion over eight years to stabilize the electricity supply. South Africans are experiencing the third consecutive week of load shedding, Fin24 reported.

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SA reacts

Social media users are divided over the high figure and others believe that maintaining stable power supply is attainable:

@master_otu said:

“This is very achievable with private sector. Privatise electricity in JHB.”

@Scotchtizo wrote:

“Pity how people who contributed to the dilapidation of electricity at CityPower came with the masterplan which cost 26billlion.”

@erictchauke posted:

“I hope some of the money can be redirected to stabilize the power supply as it was done during COVID-19.”

@MiniMeRSA added:

“Leave the flag and stabilize our power supply.”

Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe calls out Eskom for loadshedding, says there are other energy sources

In a related matter, Briefly News also reported the Minister of Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe said he does not understand why Eskom is resorting to loadshedding when the power utility allegedly has enough electricity reserves. Stage 2 Loadshedding was implemented on Sunday 22 May and will continue until the end of the week. In a statement, the power utility said the implementation of loadshedding was due to generator breakdowns and sabotage. Eskom also added that 14,992MW of electricity capacity was not available due to the breakdowns.

Minister Mantashe said the power utility can avoid loadshedding because it has 6 000MW in extra reserves. During an interview with eNCA, he said the department has a supplementary programme to boost generation and Eskom can also be optimised. Mantashe said 15,000MW from the power utility is idle.

Source: Briefly News