Everything you need to know about load shedding before you make your weekend plans

Load shedding will be maintained at Stage 4 for tonight and tomorrow evening between 4pm – 5am.

Load shedding will be maintained at Stage 4 for tonight and tomorrow evening between 4pm – 5am.

The country will remain on

In a short alert on Friday, Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsha said Stage 4 would continue for Friday and Saturday between 4pm and 5am.

“Load shedding will be lowered to Stage 3 at 5am – 4pm on Saturday and further reduced to Stage 2 on Sunday morning. A full statement will be published on Sunday,” he said.

Last week, Eskom implemented Stage 6 load shedding following severe capacity constraints.

At the time, Eskom said 11 generators, amounting to 5084MW of capacity, suffered breakdowns, further reducing available capacity and necessitating the increase in the stages of load shedding.

According to Eskom Se Push, so far in 2023, SA has had 471 hours of national load shedding. In 2022, SA powered through 157 days of load shedding compared to 48 days in 2021.

The Small Business Institute, which represents tens of thousands of small businesses, is calling on government to provide speedy, effective and tailored support to struggling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which are being decimated by the new and unending round of load shedding.

On Friday, civil rights group #NotInMyName is today marching to the Union Building in Pretoria to protest the indefinite load shedding and the approved electricity price hike. Speaking to IOL during the march, #NotInMyName president Siyabulela Jentile said President Ramaphosa had been found wanting during this crisis.

IOL