Head of South Africa power firm resigns

The head of South Africa's embattled state-owed power utility firm Escom has resigned.

Andre de Ruyter handed in his resignation earlier this week, local media report.

He is yet to comment on his leaving nor the reasons for his decision.

Mr De Ruyter's resignation comes amid crippling blackouts across the country known as load-shedding.

Through planned outages, the utility rations power supply, supposedly to keep the grid from collapsing.

The role of Eskom head has become a kind of poisoned chalice in recent years, with bosses abruptly leaving either due to public dissatisfaction or seeming government interference in its running.

Mr De Ruyter has been in the position for less than three years.

South Africa is currently on level-five rolling blackouts - which means no less than six hours of power-cuts during the course of the day.

The outages affect schools, businesses and households alike.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

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