Eskom dismisses false claims of imminent load shedding in July
Eskom has strongly rejected false claims circulating online about imminent stage 4 and stage 6 loadshedding from 6 July until 20 July with the power utility saying the country's power system remains stable with loadshedding suspended since 10pm 15 May 2025.
" The Winter Outlook, published on 5 May 2025, covering the period ending 31 August 2025, remains valid. It indicates that loadshedding will not be necessary if unplanned outages stay below 13 000MW. If outages rise to 15 000MW, loadshedding would be limited to a maximum of 21 days out of 153 days and restricted to Stage 2. There are no planned outages of this scale. Misinformation causes unnecessary alarm. Stay informed—trust only official Eskom updates on our official platforms," the power utility said.
This past week, electricity and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said municipalities with a combined debt of over R100 billion have not been able to reduce the amounts they owe to Eskom.
The minister added that the ongoing challenges could result in the total collapse of the South African electricity complex.
The minister described Eskom's challenge of supplying electricity but being unable to collect revenue as an 'existential problem'.
'They are spending money they must collect from the bulk consumer, and where they are reticulating. They are finding it difficult to collect, so they're unable to reinvest back into their asset base. It's going to result in, if not managed, a total collapse of the electricity complex in the country," Ramokgopa said.
On Friday, Eskom revealed that despite the high unplanned outages and severe weather conditions in parts of South Africa, the available generation capacity was enough to meet peak demand.
The power utility also revealed that for the week of 20 to 26 June 2025, unplanned outages averaged 14 696MW, exceeding last year's figure by 2 815MW and the base case estimate of 13 000MW by 1 696MW.
It said the increase was largely due to Medupi Unit 4, which has been offline since August 2021 and was scheduled to return on 30 May 2025. The delay in its return was factored into the unplanned outage calculations from 1 June 2025, adding 800MW. Year-to-date, average unplanned outages stand at 14 031MW.
[email protected]
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Citizen
an hour ago
- The Citizen
GirlCode Hackathon set to empower women in tech across Africa
What was once a male dominated domain, women are now increasingly making their mark in the tech sector. From classrooms to boardrooms, women are bringing fresh new perspectives. Picture: GirlCode In an ambitious stride towards gender equality and in a world where innovation drives progress, technology continues to shape how we live and work. What was once a male-dominated domain, women are now increasingly making their mark in the tech sector. Taking the lead From classrooms to boardrooms, women are bringing fresh new perspectives, solving complex challenges, and developing solutions that contribute not only to industry growth but also to broader societal impact. In line with this momentum, the annual GirlCodeHack returns on the 11th of October 2025 an expanded footprint across the African continent in partnership with Absa. ALSO READ: Lenovo Robogirl 2022 initiative to upskill women in coding and robotics GirlCode Organised by GirlCode, a social enterprise focused on advancing women in technology, the 2025 edition will take place across seven African cities. The event coincides with the International Day of the Girl Child and aims to create greater access and opportunity for young women aged 18 to 35 through a 30-hour hackathon experience. With a grand prize of R100,000 for the winning team, GirlCodeHack 2025 invites university and college students, as well as recent graduates, to solve problems under the theme: Future-Proofing Africa: Innovation at the Intersection of FinTech, Cybersecurity, and AI. Participants will collaborate in teams of two to four, focusing on real-world challenges and creating impactful, sustainable solutions. Ten million women Founder and CEO of GirlCode, Zandile Mkwanazi, said their mission is to expose 10 million women and girls to technology by 2030. 'By expanding GirlCodeHack across Africa, our goal is to do more than simply encourage more girls to code, but rather to be part of a sisterhood of innovators in the making that is ready to tackle the continent's most pressing issues'. The hackathon will take place simultaneously in the following cities: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Nairobi, Kampala, Dar es Salaam, and Gaborone. Each location will have seasoned professionals as mentors, providing participants with comprehensive support throughout the event. Entries are now open. Get more info here: ALSO READ: 'Young Women in Tech': Empower your future with free programme
The Citizen
2 hours ago
- The Citizen
Honor Magic V5 foldable smartphone to land on SA shores soon
The foldable smartphone competition is heating up The Honor Magic V5 will be arriving in SA in October. Picture: Honor The foldable smartphone competition is heating up with Honor announcing that it will be bringing its Honor Magic V5 to the country. The much-anticipated device is expected to land on South African shores in October, in another twist in the battle to get a bigger slice of the foldable market. The announcement comes after Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Z Fold 7 last week. Huawei also has the Mate X and the triple-fold Mate XT, which is currently available in South Africa. Aesthetics Mark Lei, Managing Director of Honor South Africa, told The Citizen at a roundtable discussion on Thursday, that they have set the trend with thinner foldable devices. Lei said that while they have made the thinnest foldable smartphones, they don't want to compromise on other aesthetics. 'Until today, not only Honor, but also our competitors they are similar with us. Whether you must be the thinnest, I don't know, I didn't ask HQ, because thinnest doesn't really mean anything. It's easy for marketing. 'But more importantly than that, if you make it thinner, what else would you compromise because of that, that's the most important thing,' Lei said. The foldable smartphone competition is heating up with Honor announcing that it will be bringing its Honor Magic V5 to South Africa. Mark Lei, Managing Director of Honor South Africa speaks about the phone being very thin. #HonorMagicV5 @HonorAfrica @TheCitizen_News — 𝙵𝚊𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚕 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕 ⚡️ (@FaizelPatel143) July 17, 2025 NOW READ: Battle of the bulge: Samsung unveils new thinner Galaxy Z Fold 7 [VIDEO] Battery Honor will launch the Magic V5 with a 5 820mAh battery, which is more powerful than what is packed in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 (4 400mAh). The company has used 15% silicon content to build this material and ensure more power in a lightweight design. Specs Colour and pricing When pressed for South African pricing, Lei did not budge, saying Honour will share the recommended retail price (RRP) closer to the October date. However, Lei did say that the Magic V5 is expected to retail for less than the current Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 (512 GB), which sells for R45,999. As for colour options that will be coming to South Africa, Lei said the Dawn Gold hero colourway will be made available, with Ivory White being another potential colour option to land in the country. ALSO READ: Huawei unveils Pura 80 series smartphones with innovative camera system [VIDEO]
IOL News
3 hours ago
- IOL News
Meta faces court over alleged failure to remove graphic child pornography from WhatsApp and Instagram
Meta, which was ordered by the court to shut down child pornographic accounts, could face a contempt of court application for allegedly failing to do so. Image: Supplied Meta, which owns WhatsApp and Instagram, is due to be hauled before court on Friday to face a possible contempt of court order after it was instructed on Monday to permanently remove certain channels and profiles that are distributing graphic child pornography material and allegedly has not done so yet. The Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, late on Monday evening ordered Meta to immediately remove six specified WhatsApp channels and 30 Instagram profiles. This followed an extremely urgent application launched by The Digital Law Company (DLC), which also obtained an order against Meta to, by Tuesday noon, supply all information in its possession about the creator(s) of the WhatsApp channels and Instagram profiles listed in the urgent application. Rorke Wilson of The Digital Law Company on Thursday said Meta had partially complied by removing some accounts, but somehow the content is still available to those who have followed it when they were still alive. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading However, Meta has not yet provided the applicant with user information. 'Until the perpetrator(s) are identified, we are dealing with 'whack a mole',' Wilson said. Emma Sadleir Berkowitz, a social media law expert and founder of DLC, stated that as soon as one account is removed, others are created almost instantly. She stated this in an affidavit filed with the court in the contempt of court application. She said these faceless perpetrator(s) are publishing disturbing pornographic material regarding young South African schoolchildren on these platforms. Sadleir Berkowitz said that is why it is so important to disable these accounts and to disclose who is behind them. She added that the perpetrator is not going to stop the terror campaign on their own. 'He must be stopped and Meta is the only one who can stop him,' she said. According to Sadleir Berkowitz, Meta is aware of Monday's order; thus, DLC will approach the court on Friday for a contempt order if Meta has not complied by then. She said that DLC was made aware of some social media accounts depicting shocking material relating to children. Upon investigation, the disturbing nature of these posts became clear, as they involve the mass distribution of unlawful material involving children to large, unidentified audiences who are members of so-called WhatsApp 'community channels', as well as Instagram profiles. 'The content consists of explicit pornographic images and videos depicting children. The images and videos are often accompanied by other information relating to the individual child depicted, including their name, grade, school, as well as lewd or otherwise offensive descriptions relating to the individual's purported behaviour,' she stated in her affidavit. The material is sourced from the community by sharing links to an anonymous uploading service. She annexed several of these posts to the court documents as evidence.
