Eskom Suspends Loadshedding Until 4pm, Failing to Impress Mzansi: “We Are Being Taken for a Ride”

• Ailing power utility Eskom has suspended rolling blackouts until 4pm on Sunday, 19 March, for the first time since 2023 began
• Stage 1 loadshedding will resume after 4pm, but the power utility said it would notify citizens if the situation changed
• South Africans are not impressed by Eskom's announcement and believe the utility isn't being forthright about the loadshedding situation

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's barely functional power utility, Eskom, has announced that loadshedding will be suspended until 4pm on Sunday, 19 March.

The short reprieve from rolling blackouts has failed to impress citizens who have accused the power utility of taking them for a ride.

Eskom suspends loadshedding for first time in 2023

South Africans have endured daily doses of loadshedding since 2023 started. For the first time since the beginning of the year, Eskom has fully suspended Eskom, even though it is just for a couple of hours, eNCA reported.

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The power utility posted a tweet saying that load shedding Stage 1 loadshedding would resume after 4pm but promised to update citizens on Sunday afternoon if the situation changes.

South Africans slam Eskom for suddenly suspending loadshedding

Eskom's announcement that loadshedding is suspended for a couple of hours wasn't received well by many South Africans.

Below are some comments:

@_de_big_O said:

"The way you're reducing stages is now worrisome... Slow down cause you'll be subjecting us to stage 4 next week."

@MemWaLeSuper claimed:

"We are being taken for a ride here."

@smith_tshepi criticised:

"This is a first. Loadshedding has never been suspended this year. It proves that if the government wanted they would have ended loadshedding a long time ago."

@SNjotini demanded:

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"Please stop this nonsense and implement stage 2. You putting the grid under unnecessary pressure and burning a lot of diesel."

@lulushezi added:

"Tomorrow at 7am, you will say stage 6. Rather continue stage 1 and leave us alone."

Eskom chair Mpho Makwana sparks fury for saying South Africans must celebrate lower stages of loadshedding

In a related story, Briefly News reported that Eskom Chair Mpho Makwana's tone-deaf comments about loadshedding have caused a wave of fury across South Africa.

Citizens were taken aback when Makwana said that South Africans should celebrate lower stages of loadshedding as much as they complain about Stage 7 and 8 rolling blackouts.

Makwana was speaking on Newzroom Africa when he said:

“If we want this thing to change, celebrate those things that people like [Eskom's head of generation] Thomas Conradie are fixing, celebrate those things [Eskom's power station manager] Bheki Nxumalo at Eskom road tech industries are fixing, then we encourage them to do more.”

Source: Briefly News