South Africans reclaim daily life as power cuts fade
A year without rolling blackouts reshapes how families and firms plan their days
For months, shopkeepers, factory managers and households across South Africa planned their lives around a schedule of darkness they could neither predict nor prevent. Load-shedding, as the rolling power cuts came to be known, settled over businesses and consumers like expectant dread, weighing on people who knew their country should be capable of more. Today the picture looks strikingly different, and those telling that story say the change goes deeper than electricity alone.
Ipeleng Selele, chairperson of Brand South Africa, the country’s official marketing agency, puts it plainly. “We’re not counting outages any more because we’ve turned a corner,” she says, referring to the notorious shortages. “In fact, we’ve got a surplus in terms of power.” According to Eskom’s latest published operational update, the utility holds 5,728MW in cold reserve due to excess capacity. Forecast demand for the evening peak stood at 23,360MW against 26,419MW of available capacity. Eskom also recorded a year-to-date Energy Availability Factor of 67.87 percent, its best in six years, with unplanned outages sharply reduced.
The milestone matters to ordinary users as much as to analysts. In May 2026, Eskom marked 365 consecutive days without load-shedding, having met 100 percent of national electricity demand throughout that stretch. Generation capacity continues to exceed demand, the utility reports. There is a financial dimension too: for the year ending March 2026, Eskom posted profit after tax of R30.3bn, more than $1.5bn, its second straight profitable year and an improvement on the prior year’s R14bn.
“South Africa has turned an important corner on energy security,” Selele says. Available generation now exceeds current demand, and Eskom keeps excess capacity in reserve, which she describes as a significant confidence signal to investors. The next step, she stresses, is accelerating investment in transmission, distribution and new generation to hold onto that gain.
Her argument rests partly on personal history. With a background in the private sector, she says she understands what investors need before committing funds. “Investors don’t want fluff. What an investor is really interested in is where you are and what you are doing about some of the areas of improvement that would have been raised before,” she points out. That translates into policy credibility and certainty, easier conditions for doing business, and openings created in rail, energy and logistics. She frames recovery in three phases: stabilisation, then reform, and now growth. Under Phase 3 of the Government-Business Partnership, launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa in August, the goal is to lift growth beyond 3 percent from its long hover around 1 percent and add a million jobs by 2030.
Meanwhile, beyond the grid, congestion, ageing equipment and inefficiency at ports and railways had pushed up costs for mining companies and shipping lines, hurting a key earner of foreign exchange. Here too, Selele sees movement. Vessel arrivals rose 9 percent year-on-year to 8,630 in the 2025/26 financial year, while cargo throughput across the eight commercial seaports climbed 4.2 percent to roughly 304m tonnes. Transnet, the freight and logistics company, is turning its corner much like the power sector did, she says, though she concedes the road ahead remains long. “We have to look at the little milestones which make up what we call success.”
Mining illustrates both promise and ambition. As a leading producer of platinum-group metals and vanadium, South Africa stands to capture far more value by processing raw materials locally, creating growth and work along the chain. “Where are the tangible projects that can then demonstrate the very same investment case of mining the commodity, beneficiating it, and then using it?” she asks.
Culture carries the message abroad as well. From the Springboks’ standing and their coming tour against New Zealand’s All Blacks to DJ Black Coffee, singer Tyla, the rise of Amapiano, and MaXhosa showing at Paris Fashion Week in September, Selele sees proof of nationwide talent. “When you look at the way the Springboks perform on the international stage… you cannot deny that the national brand story of South Africa is enriched by so many different aspects,” she says.
Carrying this account to investors gathered alongside the United Nations General Assembly in New York, she offers no gloss. “We don’t deny the challenges. But what we know for sure is that our capability and strength outweigh that, and it’s greater.” Her summary is blunt: “Our capability is greater than our challenges.” Whether the world buys it will depend less on slogans than on the numbers posted, the reforms delivered, and the teams behind them.
Q&A
How long has South Africa gone without load-shedding, and what does the power surplus look like?
By May 2026, Eskom had gone 365 consecutive days without load-shedding, meeting 100 percent of national electricity demand throughout that stretch, with 5,728MW held in cold reserve and an Energy Availability Factor of 67.87 percent, its best in six years.
What does Ipeleng Selele say investors need before committing funds?
She says investors want substance rather than fluff: they look at where the country is and what it is doing about known areas of improvement, which translates into policy credibility, certainty and easier conditions for doing business.
How have ports and railways improved, and who felt the earlier cost of their problems?
Congestion, ageing equipment and inefficiency had pushed up costs for mining companies and shipping lines, but vessel arrivals rose 9 percent to 8,630 and cargo throughput across the eight commercial seaports climbed 4.2 percent to roughly 304m tonnes in 2025/26.
What is the goal of Phase 3 of the Government-Business Partnership?
Launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa in August, Phase 3 aims to lift growth beyond 3 percent from its long hover around 1 percent and to add a million jobs by 2030.