As 2022 come to an end, South Africa has seen 200 days of power outages

On Tuesday, South Africa reached 200 days of power outages in 2022, with more to come.

Because of its ageing and poorly maintained power stations, Eskom has conducted record rotating outages this year. Energy scarcity has hampered investment and dragged on output.

“The fluctuations in the supply of electricity have profound implications for the economy and could be viewed as the biggest risk to growth and through that the future of South Africa,” said Sygnia executive chair Magda Wierzycka, in an e-mailed response to questions. 

According to the South African Reserve Bank, the economy would likely rise by 0.1% in the fourth quarter due to power disruptions. It forecasts that economic growth would drop to 1.1% in 2023, down from 1.8% this year, and that greater power rationing will reduce production by 0.6 percentage points.

The retirement of André de Ruyter as CEO of Eskom provides a chance for South Africa to bring in a qualified and experienced CEO with the necessary political support, according to Wierzycka. “It will not be easy to find someone suitable, but the government cannot afford to get it wrong one more time.”

Eskom provides the majority of the country’s energy but does not produce enough cash to pay its operational costs and interest bill, making it reliant on state bailouts to stay afloat.

Its outgoing CEO cautioned on Friday that the power supply picture for next year is quite limited, and that blackouts would persist unless an extra 4000MW to 6000MW of generating capacity is added to the system. — Renee Bonorchis and Amogelang Mbatha contributed.