Load shedding has returned with a vengeance this week, after Eskom confirmed that the lights will be going out on Tuesday afternoon. This is no routine round of power cuts, however. The outages are going to be with us until SATURDAY NIGHT.

JUST THE 74 HOURS OF LOAD SHEDDING THIS WEEK – HERE’S THE NEW SCHEDULE

The scarcely-believable schedule was confirmed by the power utility earlier today. They will flick the switch at 16:00 on 6 September, inflicting load shedding on the entire country until 22:00 tonight. The respite, however, is minimal.

From 5:00 on Wednesday 7 September, Stage 2 blackouts will be enforced. These will run right through until 22:00 on Saturday 10 September. So, for the next five days, Mzansi will have to contend with 74 HOURS of scheduled load shedding. Jesus wept…

ESKOM CONFIRM REASON FOR WEEK-LONG STAGE 2 POWER CUTS

The chancers at Eskom have offered a very hollow apology, after getting their side of the story out to the public. According to the ailing SOE, five separate breakdowns – and an issue with the Koeberg Nuclear Plant – have accounted for this new round of devastating outages.

“The load shedding has been caused by a shortage of generation capacity, owing to breakdowns and delays in returning some units to service. The breakdown of a unit at Arnot, Duvha, Kendal, Medupi, and Tutuka power stations… have exacerbated our capacity constraints.”

“On Saturday 3 September, Unit 2 of Koeberg Power Station tripped from full power during routine testing. The process to return the unit to service is underway. We urge all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly.” | Eskom

• For those who enjoy a bit of suffering, you can read the full statement from Eskom here:

#PowerAlert1

Loadshedding will be implemented at 16:00 until 22:00 tonight; thereafter loadshedding will be
implemented daily at 05:00 – 22:00 until Saturday pic.twitter.com/YmgcoI3roP

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 6, 2022