Today marks the second day of loadshedding in South Africa following its unwelcome return early on Thursday morning.

The country is currently beset with Stage 2 loadshedding until 22:00 on Friday evening. This follows breakdowns which removed 13 500MW of capacity from the grid while planned maintenance removed 5 000MW. That brings the total missing capacity to 18 500MW.

While Eskom said on Thursday evening that loadshedding may persist throughout the weekend, a spokesperson told EWN that the situation could be averted over the course of the weekend.

Of course, the situation could swing the other way and loadshedding getting upgraded to a higher level means more cuts.

“Should there be breakdowns that require that the stage of loadshedding be ramped up, that will change at short notice and we will let the people of South African know as soon as we know. It quite possible as well that on the weekend we may eliminate loadshedding. We will give the country an update in the afternoon,” Eskom spokesperson, Sikonathi Mantshantsha told EWN.

Dashing hopes that loadshedding might be eliminated, the spokesperson went on to say that there has been no change in the supply situation as of Friday morning.

Looks like we are in for a dark weekend. Charge your devices and check your schedules.

We also recommend downloading some entertainment before your WiFi and electricity goes off.