President Cyril Ramaphosa had addressed the frustrations of Mzansi people as Eskom started load shedding stage 6 tonight.
Ramaphosa came under fire on social media earlier this evening with news that he was headed on a visit to Egpyt.
He was criticised for leaving Mzansi in the dark literally.
But in a statement from the Presidency issued just recently,President Ramaphosa was updated before he jetted off to the land of the pyramids.
He also states that he understand the anger across Mzansi and that the bad weather of the past couple of days put heavy constraints on the energy grid.
“The President has been in constant communication with the Minister of Public Enterprises and the leadership of the electricity utility on the state of the national grid and the work being done to address the current crisis.”
President Ramaphosa said: “The ongoing load shedding is devastating for the country. It is causing our economy great harm and disrupting the lives of citizens.
“The extreme weather in several parts of the country over the last week has compounded the problems of an electricity grid that was already under great strain.
“Our immediate priority is to get as much generating capacity back on line within the shortest possible time. Eskom’s emergency response command centre and technical teams are working around the clock to fix multiple breakdowns.
“The anger and frustration that this load shedding has caused is understandable. It is essential at this time that all stakeholders work together to restore adequate supply of electricity in the shortest time. We call on all South Africans, especially energy intensive users, to reduce consumption at this time.”
Government has taken far-reaching and necessary decisions to ensure the sustainable security of energy supply. As we confront the immediate challenges, we are working to put these long term solutions tin place.”
“The energy challenges in this country will not be resolved overnight. We have set out on a bold path of restructuring and rebuilding. Despite the setbacks of the past week, we are making progress and will steadily begin to see the fruits of these efforts.”
The President has directed the Ministry of Public Enterprises as well as Eskom to continue to give regular updates and communication on the progress being made to restore the units back to full capacity.
