Matric exams hit by latest power outage

We have a backup exam which can be scheduled if there are candidates who can’t write this one

People of the Eastern Cape scurried to make backup plans as rolling stage 2 blackouts knocked out swathes of areas on Wednesday.

For matrics, a backup exam was set up to try and bypass disruptions caused by load shedding across the Eastern Cape, education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said.

The matric final exams started on Wednesday, with 4,331 pupils writing computer applications technology (CAT) and information technology (IT) Paper 1.

Eskom’s CEO Jan Oberholzer said mechanical teams were assessing structural damage to the coal conveyor belt from mines at Medupi at 9am on Wednesday. The damage, which would take two weeks to repair, reduced Medupi’s 4,000MW output by a third.

Oberholzer said they had also lost six boilers since Saturday‚ forcing the utility to keep another three leaking boilers going. Eskom believed the six boilers‚ two of which went down on Tuesday‚ would be back on line by the end of week.

“We are‚ however‚ sitting with three other leaking boilers‚ which we will have to take off line soon to repair.”

Oberholzer blamed the lack of proper maintenance for the crisis.

Mtima said: “The announcement is extremely unfortunate as it coincides with the start of the matric exams and the subjects that need power are being written.”

He said the extent of the impact had not been established as yet.

“We will provide an update at a later stage. We are monitoring the situation closely. We will look into the possibility of engaging Eskom with a view to alerting them to negative effects the power cuts may have on national exams,” Mtima said.

“We have a backup exam which can be scheduled if there are candidates who are not able to write this exam. Contingency plans are always put in place to accommodate situations of this nature.”

Executive director for the Border-Kei Chamber of Business Les Holbrook described the outages as a “disaster”.

He said the economy was not recovering as expected, “and in these circumstances, will not reach the revised growth target”.

“Business usually responds better when they have planned for such circumstances.”

Holbrook said local business would suffer significantly “due to the unannounced nature of the shedding”.

“Contingency plans may be inadequate for this event and certainly employees and jobs will be negatively affected, with some being sent home.”

Premier Oscar Mabuyane said the government was taking action to keep services running. The department of health had made provision for backup generators in all 66 district hospitals.

“These backup generators kick in when the power supply is interrupted in the areas with hospitals.

“The backup generators are checked on a daily basis to ensure they have adequate diesel during load-shedding,” he said.

Mabuyane said the entities responsible for provision of water services had made arrangements with Eskom to receive alerts about the planned outages in order to schedule pumping of water into the reservoirs.

He said municipalities would be rotating power supply to communities.

“Government will then ensure that in places where there is no power supply, personnel will be available to assist people to access government services, where it is possible.”

Loadshedding schedules can be found on http://www.eskom.co.za/CustomerCare/Towns/Pages/default.aspx