While the country is rattled by further waves of load shedding, just after it was announced that no further load shedding is needed, the spokesperson for Eishkom, Andrew Etzinger, is finally relived of his duties.
While he was officially thanked for his “calm and reliable” business practice during the dark times of South Africa, there are even more voices, who received the news with relief as his announcements and comments could have not been further from the truth. Let’s face it: the Government has neglected the maintenance of its national power supplies and grid integrity either due to ignorance or due to incompetence. It is not a secret that power plants need to undergo regular maintenance and that over the last years most of our aged equipment was running far above recommended capacity.
But here comes the surprise news: Majuba Power Station’s Unit 3, Duvha’s Unit 2, and Koeberg’s Unit 1 are on unplanned maintenance. Now we have two more units that have had to be taken off service. At the Kriel Power Station, Unit 3 experienced a boiler tube leak, and Camden’s Unit 4 has a generator hydrogen leak. Did EskomClowns.com really believe they can get away with these plants running 24/7 indefinitely?
Candles out, the Prince of Darkness might have left, but the Darkness did not!