The power company only sold electricity when it had a surplus, said spokesperson Sipho Neke.

"When we don't have enough capacity for domestic use we don't sell electricity. There is no surplus so there are no exports," he said.

Of the electricity generated by Eskom, 95% is used locally. The rest exported to Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Speaking to Business Times on Friday, Eskom's chief executive Jacob Maroga told the Sunday Times export power was reduced whenever South Africa faced a shortage, but that local consumers also had to lower consumption by 20% to ease the problem.

The country's electricity crisis was debated at length during the African National' Congress's three-day lekgotla which closed in Midrand on Sunday, said the party's secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.

The ANC would be looking into a number of interventions, he said.

"Rather than being in a state of panic [we should] deal with the issue proactively because it is actually positive that the country is growing to the extent that we actually exhaust the energy capacity," he said.

"That economic growth to us is positive rather than negative. So rather than emphasising an energy crisis, rather an intervention that ensures that efficient energy consumption is taking place [should be emphasised]"

SA must pull together

Also commenting at the briefing, newly-appointed ANC spokesperson Jesse Duarte said South Africans would need to pull together when it came to electricity.

They needed to look at options like giving incentives to businesses and households which installed solar or water heating and implementing legislation to ensure the use of energy-efficient lightbulbs.

Households also needed to turn off implements like geysers during peak hours.

She said the ANC would be embarking on a campaign to reach out to the public.

President Thabo Mbeki will meet this week with Eskom management to ascertain the extent of the problem and the company's remedial plans.

"The president's intervention will compliment discussions in which Minister of Mineral and Energy, Buyelwa Sonjica is already engaged with Eskom," presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said.

Mbeki would table the matter before the cabinet in Pretoria from Tuesday to Thursday.

Blackouts to continue

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has asked Eskom for answers about the ongoing electricity crisis.

It voiced concern at the negatively affect of Eskom' power cuts on the provision of essential services and, by extension, human rights.

The SAHRC said it would be teaming up with the public protector Lawrence Mushwana to investigate the electricity crisis.

Earlier this week, Mushwana told Eskom the outages were having a devastating effect on the government's service delivery.

On Sunday, the trade union Solidarity said it had created a website where businesses and ordinary South Africans could log their Eskom-related grievances.

Spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said the website was designed to pressurise Eskom and the government.

Eskom has warned that the blackouts will continue this week.