South Africa sets ambitious timetable to end rolling blackouts

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South Africa's electricity czar has promised that the crippling blackouts that have plagued the country for more than a decade will be largely over by the end of the year, allowing citizens to enjoy a “hot bath” and a home-cooked meal.

Blackouts, known as load shedding in South Africa, are expected to be one of the main issues in the May 29 election, with the ruling African National Congress likely to lose its majority for the first time since democracy began in 1994.

Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, who was appointed power minister a year ago to tackle blackouts, told an infrastructure conference he believed “the department will not be needed by the end of this year”.

“More and more often, you wake up and take a hot shower. Much later, you find that you can have a meal at home,” he told a conference hosted by asset management firm Ninety One.

Ramokgopa later told the Financial Times that he expected South Africa's electricity supply to stabilize by the end of the year. “Interventions to eradicate load-shedding will continue unswervingly and will only require surveillance,” he said.

However, executives remain sceptical given the impending election and the escalating blackouts that President Cyril Ramaphosa's government has repeatedly promised. Eskom cut power to homes and businesses for a record 280 days last year, up from 65 days the previous year, for up to 12 hours a day.

Hendrik du Toit, chief executive of Nine Eleven, told the Financial Times: “The government is undoubtedly feeling the electoral pressure from Eskom's poor performance.” “Before the election, you can expect there to be commitments. But at least we are in a hopeful phase where the government is trying to engage business and solve the problem.”

Ramokgopa rejected suggestions aimed at ensuring voters did not abandon the ANC's electoral strategy. Opinion polls predict support for the African National Congress will fall below 50% in the May election for the first time since democracy. A poll last week by the Brenthurst Foundation and SABI Strategy Group put its approval rating at 39%, well below the 57.5 it received at the 2019 election %.

“We are solving a problem. Even if there is an election tomorrow, we will continue to solve the problem,” he told the meeting. “We've suffered, the gain is coming, they say 'there's an election' [but] There's no correlation, it's just science. “

“Not everyone is happy that we have solved the problem,” Ramok Gopal said while slamming the opposition party's campaign on the blackout issue.

Azar Jammine, chief economist at consultancy Econometrix, said the urgency of Ramokgopa showed “the penny has dropped and the election appears to have focused the government's attention on what South Africans are really doing now” on what you need.”

But Jamien added that it was likely that any improvement in the blackout would come too late to ultimately change the ANC's electoral trajectory.

“Nonetheless, what Ramok Gopal is saying gives us more hope than we have had in a long time because he provides concrete information about where the new energy will come from – something we haven't really had until now. Know the details,” he said.

Mzila Mthenjane, chief executive of the Minerals Council, which represents the largest mining companies including Anglo American and Glencore, said resolving the power crisis was crucial for the commodities industry. “Our only option is to solve this problem,” he said. “Without electricity, there is no economy, there is no South Africa.”