Mantashe Retarding Efforts to Remedy SA’s Energy Crisis – Report

Riyaz Patel and Bloomberg

Embattled power utility Eskom announced Thursday that stage 2 load shedding will continue until 6am Friday, after the entity implemented stage 2 blackouts Wednesday night citing generation capacity loss.

This after Eskom implemented its deepest power cuts yet last month, reducing supply by 6,000 megawatts.

The rolling power cuts follows new assurances by President Cyril Ramaphosa that energy challenges were being urgently addressed, playing up a seeming inability to tackle and fix the crisis.

And while Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, has borne the brunt of the criticism for the country’s energy crisis, focus is increasingly being shifted onto a cabinet colleague: Mineral Resources and Energy Minister and ANC Chairman Gwede Mantashe, Bloomberg reports.

The former labor union leader is seen as an important political ally of Ramaphosa. Yet most important political allies, yet his perceived reluctance to fast-track renewable power projects could prolong the electricity