Energy commentator Chris Yelland said, “The short and tall of it is that from the low demand at the end of December 2019, one can expect an increase in demand of about 4,000MW in weeks three and four of January.”

On Friday, unplanned breakdowns were at 14,096MW said Eskom, only slightly less than the level reached on December 9  when stage 4 load-shedding was implemented. Later that day, as more units went down, Eskom moved to stage 6 load-shedding for the first time, the equivalent of dropping 6,000MW from the grid.

Eskom said that it makes use of emergency measures — such as diesel-fired turbines — to meet demand, if necessary.

Over the holiday period, unplanned breakdowns ranged between 12,500MW and 14,500MW — an indication that despite measures taken over the holidays to cancel employee leave, the trend of falling capacity has continued.

Eskom CEO André De Ruyter began work on Christmas Day.

A Pietermaritzburg factory worker lost four fingers when his hand got stuck in a grinding machine on Friday morning.

Netcare 911’s Shawn Herbst said emergency workers responded to reports of an industrial incident at a factory in Mkondeni, Pietermaritzburg.

“Reports from the scene indicate that an adult male factory worker got his left hand stuck in a grinding machine,” he said.

“When emergency services arrived on scene, the machine was immediately locked out to allow emergency personnel to safely treat the patient. Upon assessment it was found that the worker had four of his fingers amputated and was in severe pain.”

He said the man was given intravenous medication to ease the pain, while fire and rescue services dismantled the machine.

Once freed and stabilised, the patient was transported by ambulance to hospital for further treatment.

Barely a month after a Soweto property owner was convicted for ill-treating 32 dogs found in dire conditions, more animals were found caged and locked in rooms filled with faeces, rotting meat and old bones.

The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) said on Friday that Pieter Steyn, owner of a property in Protea Glen, had pleaded guilty in November 2019 and was sentenced to a fine of R40,000, plus eight months’ imprisonment suspended for five years, on condition that he did not contravene the Animals Protection Act again.

He was also denied ownership of any dogs for the next five years.

The conviction came nearly three years after inspectors discovered 32 dogs in dire conditions on the same property, in 2017.

“We undertook an inspection at Mr Steyn’s property in December 2019 and found conditions similar to those in the original case. A wide variety of breeds, including many pit bull terriers, were being kept in cages and hidden in locked rooms filled with dog faeces, rotting meat and old bones. The dogs were fed raw, rotting chicken carcasses and many of the animals were sick and injured,” the NSPCA said in a statement.

“A further gruesome discovery of a number of dogs owned by a registered animal welfare assistant, who claims to be an animal health technician and is employed by an animal welfare organisation in the area, were also found injured and living in parasitic conditions on [the] property.

“A Rottweiler was found confined in a tiny cage and her muscles had atrophied — this means she had been kept in these conditions for an extended period of time. A heavily pregnant and severely scarred pit bull was found with a broken jaw.”

Thirty-eight dogs were removed from the property and charges were being laid against Steyn and the animal welfare employee, the NSPCA said.

A man eating lunch with his family suffered burns after being “indirectly struck” by lightning at a hotel in Gauteng on Friday.

The 50-year-old reportedly suffered moderate injuries after the strike in Boksburg North.

ER24 spokesperson Ross Campbell said in a statement that paramedics received a distress call from a community-based emergency vehicle and arrived at the scene around 4pm.

“The man had apparently been eating lunch with his family under a gazebo when the lightning struck nearby,” he said.

“He suffered burns to his leg as well as other moderate injuries and was treated on scene before being transported to a private hospital in the area for further care.”

The SA Weather Service issued an alert earlier in the day for possible severe thunderstorms across parts of Gauteng.

Two petrol attendants were left shocked when a motorist in a Mercedes-Benz C200 Coupé with no rear number plate drove off without paying for petrol.

The incident was caught by the petrol station CCTV camera.

The driver waited for the two attendants to fill up the tank and then sped off with the fuel flap still open.