Load shedding updates – New plans to end power cuts, SA ...

The latest South Africa is suffering through prolonged high-stage power cuts. Eskom reduced power cuts to Stages 4 and 5 on Monday, 16 January after several weeks of Stage 6 cuts. On Sunday night, Ramaphosa met political parties and on Monday he met labour and business representatives. Last week, electricity regulator Nersa awarded Eskom an annual tariff increase of 18.65%, adding to the political pressure. South Africa’s electricity crisis is 15 years old this month.

By Nonkululeko Njilo

Out in the cold – power crisis forces enterprising ice-cream shops to brink of closure

This is a tale of two gourmet ice-cream businesses in Johannesburg facing the grim prospect of shutting their doors indefinitely amid higher stages of rolling blackouts, as they grapple with unaffordable alternatives.

Thandeka Dlathu of The Scrummy Ice Cream in Randburg|Thando Makhubu of Soweto Creamery in Jabulani.Photos:Felix Dlangamandla

By Ferial Haffajee

Government plans to focus on six ailing power stations to resolve the electricity crisis

Emergency legislation will be tabled to get new power projects on to the grid, as a ‘web of bureaucracy’ slows progress, says the National Energy Crisis Committee of Ministers.

Hulda de Villiers, a graphic designer, has to cook her dinner on a gas cylinder after another power cut in her suburb of Johannesburg. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Kim Ludbrook)

By Bloomberg

New law planned to accelerate power capacity in South Africa

The National Energy Crisis Committee, a body run by the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa, expects record power outages to ease as measures put in place, including a new law to fast-track plant development, take effect.

Vapour rises from a chimney at Eskom’s Tutuka coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga, South Africa, on 18 November 2021. (Photo: Waldo Swiegers / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

By Estelle Ellis

Gatvol citizens threaten Eskom and government with legal action, demand stop to rolling blackouts

Several South African politicians and business people have instructed a legal team from seven law firms to demand that the government stops cutting the country’s power. If this cannot be done, they want an explanation. The group also wants fair compensation for the damage caused by rolling blackouts and for the government to play open cards about South Africa’s energy crisis.

Illustrative image: Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. (Photo: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg via Getty Images). Electrical transmission pylons silhouetted at sunrise in Saulsville township, Pretoria. (Photo: Waldo Swiegers / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

By Tony Jackman

Load shedding menu: Leftover pasta salad

The leftover aspect of this is twofold: first, don’t discard the bits and pieces of pasta at the bottom of a packet, and second, don’t chuck out that leftover cooked pasta.

Tony Jackman’s simple pasta salad. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

By Julia Evans

South Africans urged to use water sparingly as rolling blackouts hit precious resource

Municipalities and water entities across South Africa have called on residents to use water sparingly as they battle continued high levels of rolling blackouts and increased demand for water as temperatures soar.

Despite the newly built reservoir in Lenasia South, Johannesburg, on 7 September, 2022, residents still face water cuts. (Photo: Shiraaz Mohamed)

By Michelle Banda

National shutdown threat in protest against Eskom’s rolling blackouts and tariff hikes — Ramaphosa cancels Davos trip

A national shutdown might be looming in response to the Eskom tariff hikes and ongoing rolling blackouts.

Residents protest in Mofolo North, Soweto, over the lack of electricity supply on 25 May 2022. (Photo: Gallo Images / Fani Mahuntsi) | An electrical substation at the Eskom Medupi coal-fired power station in Lephalale. (Photo: Waldo Swiegers / Bloomberg via Getty Images) | An employee lights candles before a schedule rolling blackout at a restaurant in Cape Town, 20 April 2022. (Photo: Dwayne Senior / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

By Victoria O’Regan

South Africans make a plan in the face of never-ending electricity blackouts

Readers across the country responded to Daily Maverick’s survey on how they were surviving Stage 6 rolling blackouts when it hit on 18 September 2022, with 32.4% of respondents indicating they had moved either partially or completely off the Eskom grid. The 67.6% of respondents still on the national grid say dealing with blackouts has become second nature.

(Photo: Gallo Images / Misha Jordaan)