South Africa has recently reached a significant milestone, with Eskom announcing that the country has gone 500 consecutive days without loadshedding. For residents of Msukaligwa Local Municipality, however, the achievement is somewhat bittersweet.
Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned electricity utility, recently confirmed the 500-day milestone. The announcement follows earlier statements that the national power system had even achieved periods of surplus electricity.
For residents of Msukaligwa, however, the improvement on the national grid has not meant an end to power interruptions.
Residents continue to experience rotational load reduction implemented by the municipality to ease pressure on the local electricity network. More recently, cable theft, vandalism and damage to electrical infrastructure have added another layer to the problem.
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These incidents not only leave communities without electricity, but also place a financial burden on the municipality and, ultimately, ratepayers, with hundreds of thousands of rands being spent on repairs.
None of this takes away from Eskom’s achievement. After years in which loadshedding became an almost permanent feature of South African life, reaching 500 consecutive days without it represents a significant improvement in national generation performance.
The reality, however, is that while South Africa may have overcome one major electricity challenge, some communities continue to face several others.