Cyril Ramaphosa Says South Africans Owe Eskom's Board Members Full Support, Says Loadshedding Will End
- President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged South African citizens to stand behind Eskom's board and employees as they try to keep our lights
- The President noted in his weekly newsletter that Eskom has a long list of issues that it will need to take to get rid of loadshedding
- Most South Africans are upset that loadshedding still exists after all these and want the President to come up with a better plan
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JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa has asked South Africans to give Eskom full support as the state-owned power utility struggles with loadshedding.
Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly newsletter that Eskom's board and staff members have been doing their best to keep our lights on despite facing challenges.
Source: Getty Images
The President stated that in order to help Eskom return to its former glory, it is important to factor in the challenges that Eskom is currently facing which include old coal-power stations, municipalities owing Eskom more than R34billion and the devastation caused by state capture, reports The Citizen.
“In short, the load-shedding we experience now is the result of policy missteps and the impact of state capture over many years," wrote Ramaphosa.
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Government taking steps to end loadshedding
Ramaphosa stated Governemnt has been making efforts to ensure that rolling blackouts will be a thing of the past. Some of these steps include the structural reform of Eskom which was first implemented in 2018.
"For many South Africans, it had become difficult to imagine a future without load-shedding, but he said significant strides had been made to address the problem," wrote Ramaphosa.
The structural reform has helped revive the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme. The revival of the program means more energy will be added to the grid.
Ramaphosa ended the newsletter by stating that loadshedding is unacceptable and the government plans to end rolling blackouts the same way state capture was ended.
South Africans weigh in on Ramaphosa's newsletter
@ChaosADza said:
"7 years ago it was your job to sort Eskom out. What did you do?"
@Yendys62306563 said:
"Mr President, the theft of electricity in this country is very high. Is not like Eskom can fail, but we don't have strict laws in this country. Even the visitors are taking advantage of our weak laws and policies. Please Mr President do something within your cabinet."
@LobambaKa said:
"15 years into load shedding and you are telling us you are still doing something aboutIsn’t it obvious that you are doing this deliberately?"
@DFreshsa said:
"Y'all don't think forward. You see cracks and wait for things to break and try to fix them when it's late. Y'all were good to freedom fight, thank you, time for old mindsets to step aside and let forward thinkers take over. La bora shem!"
Eskom board member blames ANC for power producer’s woes, loadshedding takes its toll
Briefly News previously reported that Eskom board member Busisiwe Mavuso has laid the blame for the power producer's woes squarely at the feet of the ruling party.
She walked out of a Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) meeting after refusing to take responsibility for the current state of the power utility.
Mavuso said that the board was happy for Eskom to be investigated but she would not allow them to become the "fall guys" for the mess she said the ANC was solely responsible.
Source: Briefly News
