South Africa’s mining houses close one after the other because it has become too risky to let their workers work underground during load shedding.
It costs billions of rand to stop underground mining activities and still have to pay workers even though there is no production for the whole week.
Economists point out that Eskom is crushing the country’s economy to such an extent that it will take years to recover, but the impression is left that the power supply has no sympathy, and the government is powerless.
The load shedding has opened the door wide for a follow-up recession, thereby causing the second recession within two years.
With Phase 6 likely to last until the end of the week, business people are also holding their breath as Eskom shrugs.
Eskom now claims that necessary and unplanned “repairs need urgent attention” otherwise the entire network will collapse, a spokeswoman said.
