Presidency: Opposition parties' criticism of Ramaphosa over Eskom unfortunate

President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesperson Khusela Diko says that he has been in constant communication with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan about the power crisis.

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the State of the Nation Address on 7 February 2019. Picture: Twitter/parliamentofrsa

Lauren Isaacs | 4 days ago

CAPE TOWN - The Presidency says that it is unfortunate that President Cyril Ramaphosa came under fire from opposition parties for his comments on load shedding.

Following Eskom's decision to ramp up load shedding to stage 4 earlier this week, Ramaphosa described the situation as shocking, most worrying and disturbing, adding that he was angry that the situation at the power utility had reached a stage of dysfunctionality.

Opposition parties criticised his comments, saying it showed that Ramaphosa wasn't in charge of the country.

His spokesperson Khusela Diko says that Ramaphosa has been in constant communication with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan about the power crisis.

"His immediate view was that we need to act a lot faster on Eskom. Obviously, the deterioration and the dysfunctionality is getting to a point where it is purely untenable. He spoke to the fact that there is a lot of risk in having Eskom as it is currently structured and obviously that would speak to the rationale of the unbundling."

Stage 3 load shedding is currently being implemented and will last until 11pm on Wednesday night.

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Presidency: Opposition parties' criticism of Ramaphosa over Eskom unfortunate

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