South African business leaders on Wednesday met the management of Eskom to thrash out ways to cope with an electricity crisis that has caused chaos in factories and offices.
“It is the view of Busa [Business Unity South Africa] that the current electricity challenges faced by the country demand that all stakeholders play their part to ensure that it does not result in economic paralysis,” Busa chief executive Jerry Vilakazi said in a statement after the talks in Johannesburg.
“For its part, Busa will work with Eskom, the government and other stakeholders to arrest this very critical challenge.”
Businesses have lost hundreds of millions of rands since South Africa began being hit by rolling power cuts, lasting for up to four hours, about three weeks ago.
Eskom and the government are currently considering introducing rationing to put a stop to the daily cuts, which are in danger of frightening away foreign investors from the continent’s traditional economic powerhouse.
Busa said that Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga had briefed representatives of 44 small and big businesses about how demand had increased by 50% between 1994 and 2007. — AFP