Part 5/10:
Transition and Challenges of Apartheid
The political landscape changed drastically in 1948 when the National Party, led by Afrikaner nationalists, came to power and implemented an Apartheid regime that greatly impacted the country’s economic structure. During the initial years, ESCOM could not keep pace with the skyrocketing demand. This deficiency in power supply led to systematic load shedding—a strategy used to prevent complete grid failure.
As the economy grew, especially in the industrial sector, ESCOM was faced with the challenge of generating enough power and began to rely increasingly on debt to expand capacity. A series of loans from foreign banks were utilized to build new power stations, which allowed ESCOM to stabilize electricity supply by the early 1960s.