>Are they doing something to change this?

Absolutely, they've grown their population from 45m in 1998 to 60m in 2023; all while mostly relying on aging infrastructure.

So the change they're making is to make the problem worse.

One only needs to look north across the border into Zimbabwe where they measure their load shedding in days or weeks (as opposed to hours) to see that South Africa's load shedding is at its infancy.

40yr-old Koeberg Nuclear Power Station has the capacity to produce around 5% of the energy needs, where in order to continue operating after 2024, requires around US$1.2 billion in maintenance and upgrades. Its fate is in the hands of corrupt and inept officials.

Now, if you're lucky enough to afford it, you buy solar panels, batteries, generators and fuel. Load-shedding does not affect the lucky few... it follows that said lucky few (including the vast majority of politicians and officials) do not really have skin in the game here, and zero compelling reason to make positive changes.