'Load-shedding exemption is advocacy for system collapse': Ramokgopa

Minister of electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says exempting schools, healthcare facilities and police stations from load-shedding would collapse the electricity grid.

His comment follows a Pretoria high court judgment last month ordering the government to ensure these facilities are shielded from load-shedding.

“Hospitals, police stations, schools are located in areas of concentrated consumption. They will be sharing that with a number of other users. There will be high density of those who are major metropolitan areas.

“The system operator will not have the liberty to balance the system. Once you exempt them, as long as you don’t have a direct line, everyone that feeds off that distribution infrastructure will not be load-shed. Their ability to manoeuvre and get additional megawatts is diminished. Therefore, you are advocating for a system collapse.

“That’s something that will be ventilated in court,” said Ramokgopa.

Seventy-three hospitals have been exempted so far and the health department had requested 230 more be exempted.

“There’s a further 43 that Eskom is looking to exempt,” he said.

The judgment came after an application brought by 19 parties, including opposition parties, NGOs and individuals. 

The interim order, which must be implemented within 60 days, states the minister of public enterprises “shall take all reasonable steps ... to ensure there shall be sufficient supply or generation of electricity to prevent interruption of supply as a result of load-shedding”.

The IFP, one of the applicants, said “without such energy sources the constitutional rights of citizens to healthcare, security and education are infringed upon”.

The party said load-shedding in public healthcare facilities, schools and police stations has a bigger affect in rural areas, where these facilities are often under-resourced. 

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