By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom says that load shedding will be eased for the week ahead after a slight improvement in the available generation capacity.
Stage 4 load shedding was implemented from 16h00 this afternoon as planned and run until 05h00 on Monday.
Thereafter, stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 05h00 to 16h00.
The pattern of stage 4 load shedding overnight and stage 3 during the day will continue until further notice.
If the load shedding schedules continue as planned, this will bring an end to one of the longest streaks of stage 6 load shedding experienced this year.
However, the grid remains under severe strain, and the situation could change at very short notice as has been the case for the entirety of 2023 so far.
As Eskom continues to grapple with its unpredictable systems, the government is under pressure to resolve the load shedding crisis with few options remaining.
Speaking at an ANC executive committee meeting on Saturday (22 April), the minister of electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said, that load shedding will still be with South Africa even by the end of the calendar year. Still, the government is doing everything it can to ensure the intensity of it is not as severe.
Ramokqopa, during the meeting, listed the several interventions in play while also focusing on the addition of 4,000 MW of power to the national grid over the next six months.
Although the minister has tabled these plans, he has little political backing or power through regulation to act on them.
The electricity minister is currently embroiled in ANC infighting over the national power utility. Insiders to the government and various other news publications confirm that the energy minister Gwede Mantashe, the public enterprise minister Pravin Gordhan, and Ramokqopa are all butting heads over Eskom.