Loadshedding won't be ended 'through an act of God', says electricity minister

Newly appointed Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa visited the Lethabo Power Station in the Free State last week. He said Lethabo had been the first power station he visited last week that was performing well. During his visit, Ramokgopa said he was optimistic that loadshedding would end, Africa News reported. "Loadshedding will not be ended through an act of God. So Easter is coming, irrespective of the amount of prayer that we put in, it won't resolve loadshedding. Loadshedding will be resolved by getting the units back online. Loadshedding will be resolved by ensuring that we are able to improve the operational efficiency of these units." The power problem is taking a huge chunk out South Africa's GDP. "Unserviced electricity in this country is costing the South African economy R500-billion per annum. We also know from Stats SA that the GDP contraction as a result of loadshedding is about 2.1 percentage points. We got statistics just the other day that the South African economy has contracted by 1.3% on the back of loadshedding," Ramokgopa added.