South African businesses are urged to prepare for stage 8 load-shedding and a potential total blackout, according to the Financial Sector Contingency Forum, including the central bank and other financial regulators.
Eskom, the South African public utility, is facing challenges as its three recognised unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), and Solidarity have rejected the revised offer of a 5.25% wage increase.
Dawie Roodt, the chief economist at Efficient Group, predicts that South Africa’s state utility Eskom will follow the same path as South African Airways (SAA) and the South African Post Office (SAPO), claiming it will “simply come to an end”.
Despite the low probability of such events, South African businesses are being encouraged to prepare for possible stage 8 load-shedding and even a total blackout.
In his new book, “Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom,” former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter revealed widespread fraud and corruption at the South African state utility.