Army deployed to four Eskom power stations

Government has deployed the army to four power stations as theft and vandalism add to the inability of state-owned utility Eskom to meet electricity demand.

Members of the South African National Defence Force were deployed at the Majuba, Camden, Grootvlei and Tutuka coal-fired power stations in the eastern Mpumalanga on Saturday afternoon, the utility’s media desk said in a WhatsApp message.

Presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya didn’t immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.

Eskom is currently removing 6GW through load shedding from the national electricity grid, resulting in outages of as long four hours two or three times a day. It has implemented power cuts on 191 days of 2022 as it tries to balance demand and supply that’s hampered by ageing plants that continuously break down.  — (c) 2022 Bloomberg LP

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