Cabinet concerned about Eskom’s rolling blackouts, says Gungubele

Eskom’s rolling blackouts may not have been on the top of the agenda when the cabinet met on Wednesday, but minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubele says this does not mean that the government is not concerned about the matter.

“We have demonstrated our worry about this.… The fact that that statement is not here cannot be an indication that we don’t care. We are troubled by this,” Gungubele said on Thursday.

The minister was questioned during a post-cabinet briefing in Pretoria after he did not mention the recent spate of load-shedding in his statement.

Journalists asked Gungubele if the cabinet had discussed South Africans’ frustration that Eskom was at one point mulling moving the country to stage 6 load-shedding.

The power utility announced it would implement stage 4 load-shedding from 9am on Wednesday until 9pm on Thursday, and then stage 3 until 5am on Friday. Thereafter, stage 2 will continue through the weekend until 5am on Monday.

Gungubele said: “This is a matter that we are seized with on an ongoing basis. Sometimes it will [not] find its way into our statements, not because it is not being dealt with on an ongoing basis and not because the relevant departments are not doing something about it.

“The fact that the infrastructure is in trouble is not going to change until all these interventions serve the purpose for which they are being brought.”

He used the analogy of a sick patient: “Sometimes the patient walks fully, sometimes there are difficulties in breathing until there is a cure. Those hiccups are going to take place but we will always communicate, like Eskom has been doing.” 

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