Eskom Confirms Stage 3 Load Shedding for the Weekend Amid Perfect Storm of Breakdowns iReport South Africa [Video]

Power utility Eskom has announced that Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from Friday, 31 January, and will continue throughout the weekend.

The return of rolling blackouts follows what Eskom describes as a “perfect storm” of technical failures and maintenance delays, leading to severe strain on the national grid.

On Friday, Eskom issued an alert warning that power cuts could escalate to Stage 4 at short notice. However, it has since confirmed that Stage 3 will take effect immediately.

The utility reported multiple breakdowns at key power stations, forcing it to rely heavily on emergency reserves. By Friday, these reserves had been depleted, necessitating immediate load shedding to prevent further risk to the system.

At a State of the System briefing, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa acknowledged that despite ten months without load shedding, setbacks were inevitable. He reiterated that Eskom and the government had always maintained that the energy …