Eskom has warned South Africans to prepare for a full weekend of power cuts.
The utility said stage 3 load shedding would be implemented at 16:00 on Friday after six generation units went offline.
"This will be followed by Stage 3 loadshedding from 05:00 on Saturday until 16:00 when Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented.
"This pattern of Stage 3 loadshedding from 05:00 to 16:00 and Stage 4 loadshedding from 16:00 to 05:00 will continue until Sunday when Eskom will share a further update for the week ahead."