Eskom dealt the economy a potentially devastating blow when it started implementing its highest level of power cuts to date, increasing the chances of SA slipping into a second recession in less than two years.

The crisis-hit utility, which supplies about 95% of the country’s energy, moved to stage 6 load-shedding, which means cutting 6,000MW. This was after a technical problem at the long-delayed and over-budget Medupi power station...