Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokogopa has reaffirmed that deliberations at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) are the “last step left” ahead of Cabinet approval of the updated Integrated Resources Plan (IRP). In response to a question posed by Engineering News during a briefing on the reasons for the latest bout of loadshedding, Ramokgopa indicated that the Nedlac process was a legislated requirement and that the draft IRP had been delivered to the social partners late last year for their deliberations.
Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has fingered cumulative outage slippages of 3 100 MW as the reason behind South Africa’s latest bout of loadshedding – the sixth this year. Speaking after Eskom announced the implementation of Stage 2 loadshedding during the evening peaks from 16:00 to 22:00 from Tuesday May 13 until Thursday May 15, Ramokgopa described the new round of cuts as a “setback”.