Johannesburg - South Africa's ailing economy is expected to take a further beating as the country battles its worst power outages in seven years because of surging demand for electricity.
The state-owned power firm Eskom has been struggling to keep the lights on since November with consumer demand repeatedly eclipsing supply.
Now, with heavy industry told to reduce consumption by at least 10% and the country's growth forecast revised downward, the government is scrambling to allay investor jitters and calm public angst.