In an unprecedented step, Eskom on Friday announced that it would implement Stage 4 loadshedding from 2pm until dawn on Saturday.
The power utility returned to scheduled blackouts on Thursday, and implemented Stage 2 loadshedding until Friday morning.
It said this was prompted by unplanned breakdowns taking more than 12,500 megawatts off the grid, more than emergency reliance on diesel could compensate for.
At lunchtime on Friday, however, it announced that it was moving to Stage 4 which allows 4,000 megawatts to cut off the grid.
This would continue until 6am on Saturday.
– ANA, editing by Devereaux Morkel
