In light of the power shortages currently being experienced in South Africa, Eskom announced on Sunday (20 January) that it has stopped supplying electricity to neighbouring countries. Eskom supplied electricity to Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Many feel that this should have been done long ago to help South Africa conserve the all the electricity they have for their own domestic consumption.

South Africa’s President, Thabo Mbeki held talks with management at Eskom to discuss the current electricity problems that have gripped the country. According to reports, it was revealed that Eskom had warned the government several years ago that there is going to be a shortage of electricity in the country due to the increasing demand for electricity. But at that time the government seemed not to take Eskom seriously and now the country is suffering. If measures had been put in place then, South Africa may not be in the situation it is in today. It takes no less than 5 years to build a new power plant and if work on new plants had started 5 years ago, there maybe a brand new power plant right now in South Africa feeding the country with more electricity. Now if the plants start to be built now, we have to wait a further 5 years to ‘see the light’. Can South Africa afford to be in potential darkness for the next 5 years?

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