Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa Has Power Failure During Live Interview, SA Thinks Minister Staged Incident

• Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa apologised to all South Africans for the implementation of Stage 6 loadshedding
• The Electricity Minister seemingly had his own troubles with power during a live interview with SABC News
• South Africans believe Ramokgopa staged the incident to get some sympathy from citizens

Briefly News journalist Byron Pillay has spent a decade reporting on the South African political landscape, crime and social issues. He spent 10 years working for a community newspaper before transitioning to online

South Africans don't believe that the country's ministers experience loadshedding.

Citizens are even more suspicious after Minister of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa seemingly experienced a power outage during an interview.

The incident, which happened on 23 February 2025, had citizens questioning whether the minister staged the event to get sympathy.

Electricity Minister experiences power outage during interview

During an interview with Xoli Mngambi on SABC News, Ramokgopa was responding to questions when his power seemingly went off.

Read also

Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said loadshedding will last until 28 February

While Mngambi laughed at the irony of the situation, Ramokgopa quipped that it showed he was like everyone else.

"There are no exceptions," he said.

Mngambi added that South Africans who were able to watch the interview could take comfort in the fact that the minister also experienced loadshedding.

Loadshedding rears its ugly head

The incident happened hours after Eskom announced it was implementing Stage 6 loadshedding. Eskom held a press briefing where Dr Ramokgopa acknowledged the frustration felt by citizens as loadshedding struck once more.

During the briefing, he announced that multiple units at the Camden Power Station had unexpectedly tripped, leading to Eskom having to switch from Stage 3 to Stage 6.

Eskom previously implemented Stage 3 loadshedding after numerous the loss of five generation units at the Majuba Power Station, Eskom’s second-largest facility.

He also shot down allegations that the country's power situation was a result of sabotage.

Read also

South Africans infuriated as Eskom implements Stage 6 loadshedding without warning

“I want to say to the rest of the country: this is a technical issue. We must not find any reason to manufacture explanations of why we are at Stage 6. We are hoping to get back to normal by the end of the week. There is no sabotage," he explained.

South Africans believe Ramokgopa staged a power outage

While news presenter Mngambi seemed to think it would be comforting for South Africans to see that Ramokgopa also had power issues, many social media users accused the minister of staging the incident.

@African_Spring said:

"Ministers have generators. We all know this. He needs to quit clowning. We're not his friends."

@PapoWealth added:

"Mxm, so they switched off the lights in the room. We are not stupid."

@Amza_5 said:

"Staged. Mzansi bioskop. They think we were born yesterday.

@krugersville claimed:

"The lights didn’t go off, his wife switched off the lights at the back making it seem like they switched off the lights. The government is a living meme."

Read also

Eskom implements Stage 3 loadshedding, SA says power utility punishing citizens for failed VAT hike

@Melito_2_0 stated:

"Yeah, because South Africans are that stupid right."

@Thuso1Africa suggested:

"This is staged to seek public sympathy. He doesn't experience loadshedding. If he does, he has solar panels."

@kitchnerletshol said:

"I wouldn’t be surprised if he asked someone in the background to switch off the lights. I don’t but the story that he is affected."

Loadshedding to last until 28 February

In a related article, Eskom said loadshedding was expected to continue until 28 February 2025.

Briefly News reported that the power utility implemented Stages 3 and 6 loadshedding in succession.

The minister expressed confidence that the end of loadshedding was near due to Eskom's efforts.

Source: Briefly News