South Africa is once again suffering from power outages and widespread blackouts due to a lack of infrastructure and aging power plants.
"Restraint"
State-owned Eskom and its manager Andre de Ruyter announced on Sunday that it is being forced into several planned power outages in the coming week.
He urged the population and companies in Africa's most industrialized country to use energy sparingly.
Lights should be turned off in closed offices, water heaters and swimming pool units must be used sparingly if the situation is not to get worse, according to de Ruyter.
- If everyone helps, we can meet the demand, he said.
But Eskom notes at the same time that it will take time and large investments to solve the energy shortage in the long term.
The president cancels his trip
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesman said on Sunday that the president is returning to South Africa immediately after Queen Elizabeth's funeral because of the energy crisis, despite plans to travel on to the upcoming UN General Assembly summit.
About 80 percent of the country's energy production comes from coal-fired power plants.