Ramaphosa: We will overcome the electricity crisis

South Africa will overcome the electricity crisis, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said.

The president was speaking at the 25^th commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre in Vereeniging, Gauteng on Thursday.

Ramaphosa said that energy was a basic human right and that the "severe" energy crisis is impacting the lives of people and the SA economy.

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"Restoring reliable supply of energy and ensuring a sustainable model for affordable energy into the future is now one of our most urgent priorities," he said.

Like other insurmountable challenges of the past, Ramaphosa said the electricity crisis is being addressed.

"We will overcome this electricity crisis engulfing the country at this moment. We will overcome it just as we overcame the apartheid challenge. Just as we will overcome poverty, crime and corruption … We will overcome because we are South Africans," he said.

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"The energy crisis we are going through now, will pass. I call on all South Africans to join hands, and work together to bring the energy crisis to an end," he reiterated.

Ramaphosa added that maintenance challenges at power stations are being attended to and efforts are being made to restore the loss of power from Mozambique due to the cyclone.

Eskom is implementing Stage 4 load shedding on Thursday from 09:00 to 23:00. Get your schedule here.