There is no doubt that South Africa is an incredible country with the potential to become one of the greatest in the world. The unexpected return of load-shedding has caused a stir on social media, as users complain and condemn the government for its shortcomings in this regard.
After spending more than 323 consecutive days without load-shedding from April 2024 to February 2025, South Africans are back in the dark and have been subjected to yet another bout of power cuts as Eskom announced the return of the dreaded load-shedding.
Power cuts have been an ongoing issue in South Africa for some time now, since the first load-shedding occurred back in 2007, marking the beginning of a national crisis that has been plaguing the country ever since. In an effort to find quick and sustainable solutions to this crisis, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed the ANC’s Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as Minister of Electricity and Energy, who has gained the country’s favour as he came in and made an immediate impact in his role.
According to Minister Kgosientsho, the return of the much-dreaded load-shedding can be attributed to a series of simultaneous breakdowns which have overwhelmed Eskom immensely. Media publication Business Tech lists the following as the culprit:
- Five units tripped at Majuba Power Station on Saturday.
- A unit tripped at Medupi.
- Four unit trips at Camden Power Station on Sunday morning.
- Over 7,000MW is offline for planned maintenance.
- Emergency reserves are being used up and need to be replenished for the week ahead
As expected, South Africans were not pleased to learn of the return of load-shedding as they claimed they had gotten used to the soft life of uninterrupted power, despite some areas never getting a break from load-shedding. These users inquire how the country can go from no load-shedding straight to stage six, claiming that this situation makes no sense.
But I won’t lie going from no loadshedding to stage 6 in just a couple of hours is insane.
— Thendo Muloiwa (@MuloiwaThendo) February 23, 2025
How do you go from No Loadshedding to Stage 6 within a few hours? pic.twitter.com/ASpx9Mi10G
— ?????? (@kekgotso_) February 23, 2025
Other users have revealed that they wonder whether the recent 2% VAT increase debacle has anything to do with the sudden load-shedding. Some of these users believe that the government sometimes uses Eskom as a political tool, and believe that that might be the case currently.
The infamous Eskom Se Push app, which had become a staple app in South Africa has also joined in on the chat, announcing that they are elated to be back in business. This rubbed some citizens the wrong way as they claimed that the app capitalists off of the government’s shortcomings.
— EskomSePush (ESP) (@EskomSePush) February 23, 2025
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