Eskom said on Thursday that it has been forced to implement stage-2 load shedding. The power cuts will begin at 4pm and continue to 11pm, it said on Twitter.

The utility blamed a shortage of capacity for the move, which comes just two days after Statistics South Africa revealed that the economy contracted in the three months to September by 0.6%, raising the spectre of a recession.

Eskom did not immediately expand on the reason for the load shedding, though there have been two days of persistent rains over the Mpumalanga highveld, where the utility’s key power stations and coal supply fields are located.  — (c) 2019 NewsCentral Media