Charnè Hundermark, Southern And East Africa Editor April 16, 2021
Image: African Mining Brief
South Africa’s ongoing electricity crisis – caused by aging coal-fired stations, lack of critical maintenance, and system neglect – has led to supply disruptions and rolling blackouts known as load-shedding, to prevent the total collapse of the power system controlled by state-owned Eskom.
The effects of this have been multifold. According to Jannie Rossouw, Head of the School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, load-shedding has caused a significant decline in economic activity, growth and investment across the country. According to Rossouw’s estimates, South Africa has lost approximately R1.2 trillion due to load-shedding, which suggests that the economy could be up to 25% larger without frequent