Eskom on Monday announced it was implementing stage 6 load-shedding, which allows for up to 6 000MW to be cut from the national grid. It downgraded the load-shedding level back to stage 4 at 10pm, but warned that cuts were likely for the rest of the week as the Eskom continues to battle severe capacity constraints caused by unplanned outages and flooding. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a statement, said that public anger over the "devastating" power cuts was understandable, while Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, apologised on eNCA. 

"With Eskom confirming a Stage 6 black-out from today, one thing is certain: the SA economy is now condemned to recession," economist and CEO of Pan-African Investment and Research Services, Dr iraj Abedian, said in a tweet.

Abedian called for Eskom to be placed into voluntary business rescue, as happened to debt-laden national airline SAA last week.

"Clearly, after 11 years the Cabinet hasn't learned that Eskom is a broken machine, the longer it focuses on rescuing Eskom the more the economy will weaken, jobs will be lost and brand SA will suffer. Free the energy sector, cities can generate electricity, firms can. Stop the madness."

Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings also took to Twitter to warn of the impact of stage 6 load-shedding on the economy, particularly tax revenue collections.

"Eskom has announced stage 6 load-shedding. Further knock to business and consumer confidence, negative impact on retail activity at an important time for most shops, will also hurt tax revenue collection, especially VAT. Economy set to stagnate further," Lings tweeted.

South African projected economic growth prospects for 2019 have been repeatedly downgraded, with the SA Reserve Bank now anticipating GDP growth of just 0.5%, which is far below that of most other emerging market economies. The SA economy contracted by 0.6% in the third quarter of the year, the second time this year the country's GDP has shrunk. 

DA leader John Steenhuisen, in a statement on Monday evening, said the implementation of stage 6 power cuts was "devastating news for our already struggling economy and fatal to both economic growth and job creation".

Fin24