Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has shot down claims that “40 days without load shedding” is an electioneering strategy that is related to the election.
This development follows widespread speculation among citizens that the sudden cessation of power cuts was a result of political pressure and possibly part of an ANC campaign to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply.
“We are in the silly season and there are going to be several interpretations of what is before us,” said Ramokgopa, who is an ANC member.
He said there was no correlation between Eskom's performance and election day May 29.
“When the team was making these efforts, when we ramped up planned maintenance in December and January, little did we know that there would be a big date with ballots,” he said.
Ramokgopa briefed the media on Monday to provide updates on the progress of the Energy Action Plan.
South Africa has now experienced 40 consecutive days without power cuts, marking the longest period of uninterrupted power supply in recent years.
Ramokgopa said the stability in the supply is due to the solid plan to do away with load shedding.
He said they have not used any Eskom turbine as of May. “These machines are running on their own,” he said.
“I dispel the myth, the insinuation that Eskom is buying itself out of the load shedding situation as a result of political pressure on them by an incumbent government that wants to perform better come May 29,” he said.
The power utility stated that the sudden improvement and performance in electricity generation was mainly due to maintenance.
He reiterated that the suspension of power cuts was not a strategy to confuse the public but a solid one to avoid further damage to the country.
He stated that this was not staged but orchestrated by the Eskom team.
Load shedding remains suspended due to continued sustained improvement in generation performance and a 4,400MW reduction in unplanned outages.
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