Share

Rolling blackouts in country's cities

Johannesburg - At least four cities across the country are having to contend with power cuts on Sunday after a coal silo collapsed at Eskom's Majuba power station in Mpumalanga.

Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth have been warned of rolling blackouts after Eskom lost 1800MW when the silo cracked and collapsed.

The outages could last the rest of the week, Eskom warned.

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality in the Eastern Cape said it would cut power to areas for two hours at a time, according to its load-shedding schedule.

The City of Tshwane announced power cuts between 08:00 to 22:00 on Sunday.

Johannesburg's power utility, City Power had been asked to cut back on 460MW, it said in a statement.

The Ekurhuleni municipality said it had been switching customers off since 08:30, according to the schedules on its website.

The City of Cape Town received a similar request from the national power utility.

"Residents and suburbs may be affected at their indicated times, depending on the current demand from Eskom," it said.

The silo's collapse affected coal supplies to all six units at the power station, which had a total capacity of 3600MW, or about 10% of the country's power needs.

"The silo ruptured or cracked and so employees were evacuated... and it just collapsed," Eskom spokesman Andrew Etzinger said.

"The conveyer belt systems, which feeds coal to the power station, were damaged and therefore we can't get coal into the power station."

He said Eskom would bring mobile coal conveyer belts from other stations to Majuba as a temporary solution, but this would take time.


We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.89
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.84
+0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.36
+0.4%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.30
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders