Eskom, which has come under severe criticism after a week of load-shedding that may push the economy into a recession, will investigate possible acts of sabotage that led to the blackouts, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday afternoon.

People had been suspended over the alleged acts and investigations were ongoing, the president told a media conference in Johannesburg. The crisis-hit utility needs an extra 5,000MW and will consider using floating generators, he said.

Eskom will not implement load-shedding between December 17 and January 13. All leave has been cancelled for Eskom executives so that the utility can fulfil its promise keep the lights on, Ramaphosa announced.

“Management has given us an assurance they are trying to stabilise the system ... from December 17 to January 13, we should not be in a position to have any form of load-shedding,” Ramaphosa said, following a meeting with the Eskom board and management.

“All leave from now on until January is cancelled. All executives remain in place and all key managers remain in place, to ensure we do not have load-shedding.”