By Akani Nkuna
Energy and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has commended Eskom’s leadership for achieving a remarkable 200 days without load- shedding, a significant milestone in the country’s efforts to stabilise its power supply.
“[The team invested a lot of time in] leadership stability and appointing the right people with the right credentials and ensuring that there is alignment in relation to the credentials and the work you assign them,” Ramokgopa said while updating the media on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan on Monday.
“Once people know what the grand plans are, they are able to commit to an organisation over a period of time, and you are going to see it in the kind of results that we are seeing.”
He was speaking at the Lethabo Power Station in the northern Free State.
Eskom’s has come under fire for years for its inability to ensure a stable power supply, while previous managers have been accused of allowing criminals to run rampant at the utility.
The current Eskom leadership has prioritised management development and technical training initiatives.
Ramokgopa said it was important that expertise were retained at the utility.
“At a technical level, they were able to show that they prioritised the insourcing of critical maintenance with the support of labour,” he said.
While there has been no load-shedding for 200 days, parts of the country continue to experience load reduction. This is where Eskom cuts off electricity to areas that have excessive electricity usage by residents who are illegally connected to the network.
“[It] penalises people who are sharing that distribution network who are diligent payers, because there is no technical solution to isolate those who are diligent payers from those who are connecting illegally. Municipalities simply disable the transformers [affecting everyone],” he said.
On increased power cuts in summer when Eskom repairs its infrastructure, management said this would not be the case this year.
Eskom group executive Bheki Nxumalo told reporters that the routine summer maintenance programme would target critical stations, including Lethabo.
He said this approach would enable the utility to maintain a reliable electricity supply throughout the season.
“I want to say to everyone that we are at it. We will do everything possible to ensure that we eliminate load-shedding and that load-shedding should be behind us,” Ramokgopa said.
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