Power outages roil South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- The lights are flickering on and off in South Africa - and it's much more than an inconvenience. Rolling power outages that have become an unwelcome fact of life amount to a "national emergency," authorities said Friday.

Alec Erwin, public enterprises minister, outlined steps Friday to combat a problem that on Friday interrupted the operations of gold and platinum mines, stirred anxiety about the future of the largest economy in Africa and posed questions about the country's ability to host the soccer World Cup in 2010.

The power has gone off frequently in various parts of the country over the past few weeks -- sometimes for up to five hours at a time -- as demand exceeded supply.

President Thabo Mbeki has admitted that his government failed to plan properly after being warned about possible shortages years ago. On Friday, the Department of Public Enterprises said the power interruptions constitute a national emergency. It outlined steps that could bring higher energy prices and more conservation.

The problem affects millions of people.

Commuters navigate intersections with no working traffic lights. Restaurateurs wait in the dark for customers. And hospital administrators rush to find power for emergency rooms and intensive care units.

The problem was cast into sharp relief not long ago when a few hundred tourists at Cape Town's Landmark Mountain were stranded in a cable car after the power went out.

The state-owned electricity supplier, Eskom, initiated rolling blackouts after concluding that "demand for electricity may exceed the available supply from time to time." Usage went up 4.3 percent last year, the Department of Public Enterprises said Friday.

The power outages have called into question the government's ability to meet its target of 6 percent growth. They also have imperiled efforts to combat a 25 percent unemployment rate.

"Unfortunately, it means job creation will not be as prevalent as intended," said Azar Jammine, chief economist at Econometrix, a South African company that provides economic analysis. "And the ability to reduce inequality between rich and poor will take much longer to achieve."

South African gold and platinum mining companies have had to suspend mining operations because of the power interruptions.

AngloGold Ashanti (AU) announced Friday that "it has halted mining and gold recovery operations on all its South African operations." Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd. (HMY) and Gold Fields Ltd. have suspended underground mine operations.

Willie Jacobs, a Gold Fields spokesman, called the closure of the mines "catastrophic" and "diabolical."

A Gold Fields statement said Eskom has asked its key industrial consumers such as Gold Fields and others "to reduce its consumption to the minimum load possible."

"This will have a serious effect on the South African operations and will negatively affect our gold production," said Ian Cockerill, chief executive officer of Gold Fields. "The South African operations produce approximately 7,000 ounces per day. We are looking at ways to continue operations and will work closely with Eskom to try and resolve this problem."

Frans Barker, senior executive of the country's Council of Mines, an industry group, said Friday was a particularly bad day for electricity availability but the companies hope that it was an exception.

"We are hoping they will be able to produce again tomorrow," Barker said. There was an emergency meeting between Eskom and the mining officials Friday and mining officials are to meet over the weekend to deal with the issue of energy supplies.

One of the problems the mining industry is facing is the quantity and quality of the coal used as energy, Barker said. Rain has affected coal production and wet coal is less efficient than dry coal.

A man who sells newspapers told CNN that power outages often caused delays at the printing press. That means his product sometimes arrives too late.

"Our late edition comes very late," he said. "When it comes, customers have already gone. Sales are bad."

At a normally busy Johannesburg restaurant, the staff lit candles and lingered at lunchtime one recent day, surveying empty tables half an hour after the lights went off.

"It's been happening for the past two or three weeks - happens in the morning, the afternoon," one employee said. "We just have to take it day by day."

South Africa has made much progress since its transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994, but deep disparities remain, according to the World Bank, which provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries.

"South Africa is a society where deeply entrenched poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and loss of human dignity among the majority of the black population co-exist with economic wealth, scholastic achievements and a 'first world' lifestyle among the white population at par with the richest countries in Europe," the World Bank says.

New power plants are on the way, but analysts say the new capacity will be ready for at least three years.

As people adjust to the new reality, utility officials at Eskom are trying to rally their countrymen during a difficult situation.

"All South Africans need to pull together and save electricity," the utility says on its Web site, "because every little bit of saving counts."

From CNN's Robyn Curnow in Johannesburg and Mark Bixler and Joe Sterling in Atlanta