Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa
Johannesburg will get no special treatment from Eskom when it hosts a major Brics summit later this month, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has said.
The 15th Brics summit will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg between 22 and 24 August.
The summit will be attended in person by the leaders of Brazil, India and China.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin, the target of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, will not attend. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will instead represent Russia.
Speaking to the media at his regular Sunday morning briefing, Ramokgopa said Eskom had given no special instructions to pause power cuts in Johannesburg for the duration of the summit.
"Johannesburg will be expected – if there is loadshedding on the day – to make its contribution to ensuring we protect the grid," he said.
"How they allocate that – they will make that determination.
"So, if you happen not to see loadshedding it might be two things. One - we don't have loadshedding across Eskom […] or, if there is no loadshedding at the events of the Brics, it could be they are not on schedule for that particular areas to be loadshed."
The minister said it was also possible that Johannesburg could make a "particular determination" to not cut power to an area.
Eskom based its loadshedding schedules on hard data, not special events, said Ramokgopa.
"I want to emphasise the system operator - when he makes the determination on the intensity of loadshedding - all that they are looking at is demand and available generation. Everyone must contribute."