Johannesburg- Chief Executive Officer of South Africa’s embattled power utility, Eskom, Andre de Ruyter is unhappy about the terminology used by the media when referring to loadshedding.
In a media briefing, de Ruyter said the media is wrong to refer to loadshedding as blackouts.
“The power utility is trying to avoid blackouts,” he says.
“Colleagues, I think it’s … very important for us also to distinguish between what is now called by certain members of the media ‘blackouts’. This terminology is, in fact, not correct. What we are implementing is called ‘load-shedding’. And you may think that this is a euphemism, it is not. A blackout is exactly what we are trying to avoid by implementing load-shedding,” de Ruyter further clarified as he spoke during a media briefing on Wednesday.
de Ruyter went on to emphasise that a blackout was when the entire electricity system was unable to maintain its frequency.
“This leads to the total loss of electricity transmission and distribution capacity”. This could last for “a number of days and, in some instances, even weeks. So that is the catastrophic outcome we are trying to avoid by managing the demand through loadshedding,” he said.
Eskom says it will need R10-12 billion per annum for maintaining power stations. He further said that it’s not about fixing this ‘car’ but about getting a new car as this one is so damaged.
He also said that the power utility is overall on track for lifting blackouts by Saturday.
Meanwhile, City Power has expressed its concern over the continued go-slow by the employees at Eskom.
EFF Calls On Cyril Ramaphosa To Remove Pravin Gordhan, Dissolve Eskom Board And Fire The Incompetent CEO And COO pic.twitter.com/eNg06DlH6S
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) November 10, 2021
#Loadshedding under this useless Eskom CEO André de Ruyter…..
It's shocking, he broke the record 👀😲
He won't be fired because he is white
🙄😠🙄😠🙄😠🙄😠🙄😠🙄#RamaphosaMustGo #RosemaryNdlovu #EFFPresser pic.twitter.com/dXnxU4Dm6u— .🇿🇦🇮🇱🇿🇦🇮🇱🇿🇦🇮🇱🇿🇦🇮🇱🇿🇦🇮🇱 (@NkosinatiMagwa) November 5, 2021
"We'll chat later babe♥️"
Eskom: pic.twitter.com/RGgm3B9Khx
— Thapelo Boateng (@Thapelo_Boateng) November 10, 2021
I fully support the Eskom CEO. Contractors supplying coal to Eskom are on strike that the reason for this loadshedding. This guy is reviewing corrupt Eskom contracts that costing the company billions. There is a sabotage! He must deal with them harshly especially rouge workers. pic.twitter.com/0wlaEdFo8e
— Not Adv Ngcukaitobi (@AdvNgcukaitobi) November 9, 2021
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
