POWER cuts were likely to continue throughout the week as Eskom’s power system remained constrained, the utility said yesterday. Eskom cut as much as 1 000 megawatts of power yesterday due to a shortage of generation capacity as several units were on unplanned outages following technical faults. The Communication Department was forced to issue a statement dismissing as a hoax, an e-mail warning of a blackout lasting more than two weeks. Donald Liphoko, the acting director-general at the department, said that the message regarding the power utility was meant to create unnecessary panic. “Load shedding is a controlled and planned method to ensure that the power system is protected from a total blackout,” Liphoko said. – Siphamandla Goge