One of the defining features of collapse is that it doesn’t announce itself with finality. It lingers.
It recedes, then resurges. And just when you think something might have stabilised, the system buckles again.
So it is with Eskom.
For nearly a year, South Africa enjoyed uninterrupted electricity — a first in recent years. The government touted it as a turnaround.
Mainstream news publications parroted praise for the CEO. The public, worn down by years of Stage 6 dread, allowed themselves a moment of belief: maybe, just maybe, the worst was behind us.
But collapse has a rhythm. And on 24 March 2025, it resumed — again — with what now feels like increasing frequency, following the major return to loadshedding on 31 January 2025.
In a Power Alert issued at 18:46, Eskom warned of a “high risk of loadshedding,” citing the sudden breakdown of six generation units in just twelve hours.
If another 800MW were lost, Eskom noted, Stage 2 loadshedding would be implemented at short notice. Emergency reserves were already being used. And the public was told to brace.
This warning came just one day after Eskom issued a glowing media statement on 23 March 2025 celebrating the addition of 800MW to the national grid — the result of Unit 6 at Kusile Power Station finally coming online.
That statement marked the milestone as proof of South Africa’s progress, energy security, and the success of the Generation Recovery Plan.
A day later, the grid was in crisis.
According to Eskom’s own words:
“Six generation units have been taken offline… placing severe strain on the power system and requiring the use of emergency reserves.”
“If an additional 800MW is lost, Eskom will be compelled to implement Stage 2 loadshedding.”
This is not a crisis of communication. It is a crisis of contradiction — delivered in official statements, 24 hours apart.
Progress in South Africa is a mirage.
One day, 800 megawatts are added to the grid. The next, the lights will possibly be off.
This isn’t contradiction. It’s collapse — held together by press releases and political spin.
Because in a state of real decline, nothing is ever truly fixed.
It’s just taped over, repackaged, and announced as recovery.
And Eskom?
It doesn’t need satire. Its own statements contradict each other.
All you have to do is read them.
One day apart.
