JOHANNESBURG - ' The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi is not confident that power cuts are 'momentary' as Minister of Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramolgopa alluded.
At the time the minister was giving an update on electricity performance in South Africa and reasons behind the current Stage 6.
The briefing held on Sunday alongside Eskom in Pretoria comes as the country implements Stage 6 power cuts.
Vavi argued that the current implementation of State 6 comes at a detriment of South Africans who still have to bear the brunt of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa's decision to approve a 12% tariff increase for Eskom for the 2025/26 financial year.
He said, "This is the worst news that the economy needs right now it looks like Eskom is almost determined to make sure that South Africa does not come out of recession. This Stage 6 is taking us to recession, more job losses, more inequality and more poverty..."
At the back of his concerns, Vavi painted a grim picture for South Africa should it not come to a permanent solution to power cuts.
He said lives will be disrupted while crime will increase within communities.
What was more concerning for Vavi was the lack of accountability to those behind the instabilities currently being witnessed within Eskom.
After going more than 20 days without blackouts, Eskom implemented Stage 6 power cuts on Sunday morning.
The power utility says this is due to multiple unit trips at Camden Power Stations.
The upgrade follows Saturday's implementation of Stage 3 power cuts which were said to be due to unit trips a the Majuba and Medupi power stations.
South Africans enjoyed over ten months without power cuts, until recently.
During a media briefing, Ramakgopa said multiple issues hit Eskom including losing five generating units at the Majuba power station, and another four units at the Candem power station.
Despite these multiple unit trips at power stations, the minister ruled out sabotage.
He said they would not deviate from the Generation Recovery Plan and would stay the course.
"The level of planned maintenance will continue and be maintained at proportions that are acceptable. [This] to helps us to get to a point where we can eliminate load-shedding in the shortest possible space of time," he said.
While it is unclear until when Stage 6 will persist, Ramokgopa says he was confident the country would be out of the woods by the end of this week.
DA MP Samantha Graham-Maré has thrown her support to the Minister emphasising that the team is working around the clock to deal with the issues at hand.