South Africa’s power utility has debunked false information doing the rounds on social media, warning of stage 6 load-shedding to start this weekend.

In a fake image being recirculated, ‘warning’ of extended power cuts owing to a ‘major energy crisis’, accompanied by a picture of a smiling President Cyril Ramaphosa.

This is at least the second circulation of this false news in recent months.

“The headline claiming ‘Stage 6 load-shedding begins 10 January’ is false, reckless and deliberately misleading,” said Eskom in a statement earlier this week.

“Eskom has not implemented, nor does it plan to implement such measures. We condemn the spread of disinformation in the strongest possible terms.

“For verified system updates, rely exclusively on Eskom’s official channels.”

Perhaps a giveaway as to this fake ‘warning’ is that, while the headline warns of looming power cuts to come, the rest of the text is in the past tense.

Citizens are reminded to not share unverified information on social media, but to rely on updates from verified sources.

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