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Johannesburg — The rand recovered against the dollar early yesterday as the greenback fell on weak US economic data but widespread power cuts could put pressure on the local unit. At 08:46 the rand was trading 0.48 percent firmer at R12.0075/$ compared with its closing level on Wednesday. The currency slipped over one percent on Wednesday towards its softest level in two weeks.

“Markets are still trying to get a handle on all the events of yesterday, which suggests scope for continued choppy trade today,” RMB analyst John Cairns said in a market note.

Power utility Eskom restarted rolling blackouts yesterday, the fifth straight day of power cuts imposed to prevent the grid from collapsing.

This is due to a further shortage of generation capacity as additional units have had to be taken out of service for unplanned maintenance caused by technical faults, Eskom said in a statement.

Eskom has implemented stage 2 load shedding every day since Sunday, with yesterday’s stage 1 load shedding starting from 06:00. Eskom yesterday said the electricity supply system remains very constrained and vulnerable due to a shortage of generation capacity. “Several units are currently out of service due to planned and unplanned outages.”

The power utility said load shedding is implemented as a necessary measure to protect the power system. “Any additional changes on the already vulnerable and constrained power system could lead to a change in the stage of load shedding at short notice.”

At a media briefing on Wednesday, Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown said South Africans should expect load shedding to be a way of life for at least the next two years.

“There will be load shedding for the next two years,” she said.

“It’s time for South Africans and the economy to adapt to the situation and find a way to save electricity and manage their productivity during the few hours of load shedding when it occurs.” — Fin24