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Mail & Guardian
loadsheddinglatest news & developments
One example of the risks of shutting off a water system is causing more leaks. A rapid pressure drop can cause water hammer, a shockwave that can be damaging. Photo: WaterCAN

Watershedding not cool

It is a really bad idea for a number of reasons. It can damage infrastructure, result in inequitable access to water and contamination of the water supply

Retailers target 26.5 million SA gamers through mobiles and esports

By the third quarter of 2023, about 92% of South African internet users were gaming across various devices

After more than 10 months of uninterrupted electricity supply for most of the country, Eskom has issued an alert indicating a high risk of load-shedding this weekend.
 (Leon Sadiki/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Eskom warns of stage 4 loadshedding over the weekend

The power utility said it experienced several breakdowns in its reserves that required extended repair time

Dr. Kgosientsho Ramakgopa, Minister of Electricity and Energy

Ramokgopa celebrates 5-year load-shedding milestone, but warns, ‘we are not out of the woods yet’

Ramokgopa said one of the targets for the financial year 2025 was to improve South Africa’s energy availability factor to 70%

City Power reports that only 11% of Alexandra’s residents pay for electricity. (Fani Mahuntsi/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

The complex issue of illegal electricity connections

The disconnect-reconnect cycle in townships is a reminder that giving people legal, affordable access to power goes beyond technical solutions

After more than a century of monopoly control under Eskom, South Africa is shifting towards a competitive multi-market electricity system, (Eskom)

Load-shedding and corruption are major concerns for voters, survey finds 

Respondents were asked to pick the top five issues they believe the incoming government should focus on after the 29 May elections

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa at the party’s manifesto launch, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand, on Saturday. Photo: X

UDM manifesto: Partial privatisation for Eskom, merit-based public posts

Leader Bantu Holomisa launched the party manifesto on Saturday, also promising zero tolerance for corruption

Photo: Papi Morake/ Getty Images

Joburg water crisis not dampening hospital care

Helen Joseph Hospital and Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital is surviving on water tankers amidst Gauteng water crisis

President Cyril Ramaphosa. (GCIS)

Ramaphosa delivers plan to end loadshedding and energy insecurity

We are fixing Eskom, president says of programme to transform the electricity sector for future sustainability, including boosting private input

Gwede Mantashe and Cyril Ramaphosa. File photo

Civil society groups to President Cyril Ramaphosa: Act immediately on energy crisis

They have asked Ramaphosa to instruct minister Mantashe to issue determination on additional renewable energy ‘without delay’

President Cyril Ramaphosa and Pravin Gordhan. (Halden Krog/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Editorial: A political solution from Ramaphosa or Gordhan will not solve the Eskom load-shedding crisis

After more than 10 years of meddling and the countless executive game of musical chairs, please leave political actors out of Eskom problem-solving. This is a problem to be…

Eskom told the Mail & Guardian it had only received a R9 billion World Bank loan to decommission its coal-fired Komati power station. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Eskom to reintroduce evening rolling power cuts until Thursday night

The power utility says the system continues to be constrained, with an elevated risk of load-shedding over the coming weeks

Power utility has 4 588MW on planned maintenance, while another 16 142MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns

Eskom reintroduces stage two load-shedding, citing constrained system

Rolling blackouts are to last from 5pm until 10pm on Monday

In a country where electricity is essential for daily life, it is fast becoming a privilege rather than a right in South Africa. (David Harrison)

Load-shedding set to continue for the rest of the week

No load-shedding for flood-hit eThekwini metro, because the area is not consuming its daily average of 1 600MW of power

Slow-moving vehicles line the streets as traffic lights stand without power during a load-shedding power outage period in Pretoria.  (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

More money won’t end Eskom’s load-shedding woes

Eskom is in a fix because it has little control over the procurement of alternative sources of energy capacity

The global financier announced that it had approved a $1 billion loan to help the country’s shift to cleaner forms of energy

Reforming Sasol and Eskom: South Africa’s ‘carbon criminals’

South Africa’s biggest polluters but they say they’re turning the ship around, but concerns remain over the use of gas as a fossil fuel in their proposals

KwaZulu-Natal residents who are unemployed, financially struggling and hungry have lambasted Eskom’s proposed 36.1% tariff hike. (Dean Hutton/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Eskom to take ‘extraordinary measures’ to avoid load-shedding for elections

Stage four load-shedding rolled out to ensure the polls on Monday 1 November are energy secure

Mail & Gaurdian

Editorial: Ramaphosa’s nuclear question

What energy mix will make up for the loss of South Africa’s coal power over the next decade or two? Will renewables alone fill the gap, or is nuclear power needed?

The Medupi (above) and Kusile boilers are substandard, because the ruling party hijacking their manufacturing process for their own profit. (Madelene Cronjé/M&G)

Medupi fails two tests already

The new plant can’t meet World Bank’s loan conditions or sulphur emissions limits

Volunteers and local workers take part in the clean up operation at the looted Bara Mall in Soweto, on July 15, 2020. – Many South Africans, taking matters into their own hands in a country where few rely on a chronically failing state, have started to clean up and repair. And the South African presidency even tweeted its thanks to “those who clean up”. (Photo by LUCA SOLA / AFP)

Rebuttal: Township malls should be rebuilt

Tshepo Mokholo’s article on township malls misses some Kasi’s economic and social points