President Cyril Ramaphosa is being slated for breaking his promise that there will not be load-shedding until 13 January.

Ramaphosa said in December that “from the 17th of December right through to the 13th of January we should not be in a position to have any form of load-shedding”.

However, load-shedding returned only four days into the New Year and made another unwelcome return on 8 January.

Eskom explained that the load-shedding was necessary because of an unanticipated conveyor belt failure at Medupi power station.

Energy war room questioned

Chris Yelland, MD at EE Business Intelligence, questioned whether the new energy war room has even met after Ramaphosa’s promise in December.

The war room was set up by deputy president David Mabuza and includes Finance minister Tito Mboweni, Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, and Energy minister Gwede Mantashe.

The purpose of the energy war room is to “tackle the country’s energy crisis head-on” and to deal with “any challenges to our energy supply in the country”.

Nothing has come from the newly-established energy war room to date, and with the return of load-shedding, its value can justifiably be challenged.

Ramaphosa’s promise slated

Ramaphosa’s no load-shedding promise was slated by people across South Africa after the recent return of blackouts.

“Cyril Ramaphosa promised no load-shedding before mid-January, but it seems the comrade in charge of load-shedding returned from leave early,” said one Twitter user.

“When Cyril Ramaphosa promised a ‘load-shedding free’ nation until 16 January, I described it as a costly promise. He just broke his promise,” said another.

The South African Energy Forum also weighed in on the issue, accusing the President of “lying and perjury”.

It said Ramaphosa is now portrayed as a liar and “being very uninformed about the state of Eskom”, which it said was not presidential.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise to the nation

﻿

Now read: Get ready for regular stage 6 blackouts in South Africa