Wide power cuts in S.Africa in new electricity failure

Power was abruptly cut to large parts of South Africa Sunday and the national energy provider announced days of power blackouts in Africa's most industrialised nation.

The announcement came as a surprise after positive statements from Eskom suggesting years of crippling power cuts of sometimes up to 12 hours a day may soon be over.

The heavily indebted public power utility said in a statement it had to ration electricity supply "until further notice" because of multiple breakdowns at three coal-fired power plants.

It implemented stage six of its electricity rationing plan on which stage eight provides for the highest level of cuts.

Under stage six, power is halted a dozen times over four days and for up to four hours a time. The cuts are rotated through the country.

Eskom last announced limited cuts at the end of January for the first time in around 300 days.

In February it boasted that there had been a dramatic improvement in performance between April 2024 and February 2025, compared to the previous year.

Energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, Eskom CEO Dan Marokane and senior officials apologised for the latest breakdown in a press conference that was carried live on main television channels.

Full power was expected to be restored by the end of the week, the minister said, explaining the technical sequence of the failure and ruling out sabotage.

"A setback. Unacceptable. We understand your anger, your disappointment, your grievance. We will resolve this," Ramokgopa said.

Eskom was confident a plan of remedial action started more than a year ago would ultimately see the end of power rationing, including through maintenance of infrastructure and installation of new capacity, he said.

Eskom acknowledged that South Africa's unreliable power supply is a "structural constraint" to its economic development and to foreign investment, he said.

It was also embarrassing that the power disruption coincided with meetings in South Africa this week of top diplomats from the G20 group of the world's most powerful economies, he told the ENCA broadcaster.

The pro-business Democratic Alliance party, a key partner in the national unity government, said the severe power rationing showed South Africa "cannot rely on Eskom to be its primary source of electricity."

The country urgently needed to open the electricity supply sector by encouraging private sector involvement and unbundling state-owned Eskom, it said.

Eskom supplies most of South Africa's power needs and also exports power  elsewhere in Africa, including Zambia and Zimbabwe.

It generates more than 80 percent of its power at coal-fired stations and is under pressure to transition to green and renewable energy.

The group is burdened by massive debt from years of corruption and mismanagement, with lack of plant maintenance, theft and vandalism also blamed for South Africa's electricity crisis.