President of the Republic, His Excellency, Cyril Ramaphosa

Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula,

Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Mr Amos Masondo,

Deputy President Paul Mashatile,

Members of Parliament,

Fellow South Africans.

Consultation and Stakeholder engagement:

Among the wide spectrum of stakeholders behind our efforts to reduce the intensity and regularity of load shedding, including the Unions, Industrial and Energy Intensive Users, Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers, Industry bodies, The Retail Industry Association, Organised Property Owners and Developers, Original Equipment Manufacturers in the power generation sector, The Provincial Government of the Western, Gauteng and Eastern Cape,

The Municipalities of Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City, Cape Town and Johannesburg Metro’s as well as SALGA

Diplomatic community through their missions here, including the embassies of Germany, China, Vietnam, Mozambique and the USA. We have just returned from a one-day working visit to our neighbour, Mozambique.

The Multi-lateral Development Banks(MDB), international aid agencies and development finance institutions

Without exception, these stakeholders have pledged their support for our strategic interventions to reduce the intensity and frequency of load shedding.

The winter outlook indicates an increased risk of supply shortfall against expected demand, with our worst-case scenario indicating that load- shedding could intensify to higher stages if our interventions are unsuccessful.

I should hasten to stress that an increase in load-shedding levels does not mean a greater risk of a national blackout; instead, load-shedding is a tool to prevent such an occurrence by managing the demand for electricity at a given time.

A National blackout or grid collapse remains highly improbable as multiple safeguards are in place to ensure that it does not occur.

Source: Government of South Africa