Eskom and rolling blackouts named newsmaker for 2022

Eskom and rolling blackouts have been named the 2022 National Press Club Newsmaker of the Year.

The National Press Club’s annual award recognises a newsmaker every calendar year. This is based on the amount of media coverage they received, as well as its impact.

The country’s electricity woes deepened in 2022, with the escalation of load shedding, leadership instability at Eskom, reports of sabotage within the power utility and the escalating costs of maintaining Eskom’s energy generation.

It therefore comes as little surprise that Eskom and load shedding would be named the Newsmaker for 2022. The National Press Club says blackouts have affected the livelihoods of South Africans and have forced the closure of many businesses.

It says all eyes are on President Cyril Ramaphosa as the country continues to battle ruthless power outages.

Additional 400 megawatts

Eskom is close to contracting with energy partners for an additional 400 megawatts of power.

This will be done through what is described as standard offer purchase and emergency purchase procurement agreements. That’s the word from Rudi Dicks, the head of Operation Vulindlela in the Presidency. He was speaking at a government media update briefing on the implementation progress of the announced Energy Action Plan.

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