Johannesburg: Repairs at Eskom’s Majuba power station in Mpumalanga have placed the country closer to the suspension of load shedding, Electricity and Energy Minister Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, the Minister reassured South Africans that the implementation of load shedding over the weekend was not due to sabotage, but technical issues.

According to South African Government News Agency, the Minister explained that despite 300 consecutive days of uninterrupted power supply, recent setbacks occurred, including the loss of five generation units at Majuba and four units at Camden power stations. Ramokgopa stated that the setbacks experienced over the weekend, which led to the implementation of Stages 3 and 6 of load shedding, were regrettable.

He emphasized that although the setbacks were regrettable, the country is now able to recover more quickly than anticipated. “We are coming back much faster than we thought. It is important that we have the lights on for the South African economy,” the Minister said. Ramokgopa’s comments come as Eskom is currently implementing Stage 2 load shedding, reduced from Monday’s Stage 4.

At a briefing on Sunday, the Minister assured the nation that the country will overcome the current bout of load shedding by the end of the week. “I’m confident that by the end of the week, we should be out of this difficult situation. We are confident we’re going to go to conditions of normality. By the end of the week there will not be [any] load shedding,” he said at the time.