South Africa’s crippling power cuts: five essential reads

NONTOBEKO MTSHALI

PLANNED power cuts by South Africa’s state-owned power utility, Eskom, have left businesses and households without electricity for close to six hours daily. Eskom introduced the latest round of power cuts, commonly referred to as load-shedding, in June after generation units in three power plants broke down. Then, to make matters worse, employees at several power stations downed tools. During the drawn-out industrial action, the utility increased the duration of the power cuts.

In addition to frustrating households and businesses, the power cuts could be shaving billions of rands off the country’s economy daily.

At The Conversation Africa, we’ve been working with academic experts to try to make sense of the structural and governance factors driving the power cuts and how to get the country out of this situation. Here are five essential reads:

Eskom’s turnaround

Eskom faces the challenge of decreasing its dependence on coal while transitioning to a future of