Eskom has announced that Stage 4 load-shedding will be implemented from 09:00 on Wednesday morning until 05:00 on Friday. 

Thereafter load-shedding will be lowered to Stage 2 until 05:00 on Monday. 

This was due to further failures of generation units at Duvha, Camden, Kendal and Kusile. 

"However, these units still need to ramp up to full output, which necessitates a high usage of emergency generation reserves today. This being the fourth day of extremely high diesel usage, the emergency reserves are being depleted faster than can be replenished," Eskom said. 

"Stage 4 load-shedding will therefore give us the space required to replenish the emergency reserves and continue to manage the system safely." 

Total breakdowns amount to 15 439MW while planned maintenance is 5 505MW of capacity.

This new development comes on the back of several days of breakdowns across numerous power stations. 

On Monday units at the Matla, Kendal, Matimba, Kusile and Grootvlei power stations tripped, while a unit each at Arnot and Hendrina power stations were forced to shut down. It that point Stage 2 load-shedding was only supposed to be implemented from 21:00 on Monday night to 05:00 on Tuesday - and the same again on Tuesday night. 

However, Medupi Unit 3 broke down, and then further units on over the last two days - leading to successive escalations.