For the same reason, some of the remaining foreign fighters – along with their families – now seem likely to be given Syrian citizenship.

“Every year we have an electricity price increase from Eskom at several times the inflation rate so the real price of electricity is going up and has been doing so for years,” says Mr Yelland.“And there has been a remarkable increase in solar and battery energy storage systems across the board from individual residential applications, to commercial, industrial mining and agricultural.”

Sluggish economic growth has also led to less upward pressure on the demand for power.Minister Ramokgopa holds frequent media briefings in the capital, Pretoria, by far the most in South Africa’s government, and regularly visits Eskom’s power stations.He was typically upbeat in his latest briefing, particularly proud of the fact so much was being achieved in winter, the time of year that sees the most demand on power.

But could all of this have happened much sooner?“I think we could have managed this situation better when we were told much earlier 'you're going to run out of capacity, invest in new generation capacity',” Mr Ramokgopa told the BBC.

“We thought the market will resolve that problem, when in fact the state must lead, and we didn't create conditions for the market to respond appropriately.”

He also admits that load-shedding played a role in the disastrous election result in May for the African National Congress (ANC) when it saw its vote share fall below 50% for the first time.The mood in the capital Port Louis reflected this changing tide, as people gathered on Monday in anticipation of results that signalled a fresh direction for the country.

They were dancing and singing in the streets and blowing vuvuzelas. They also waved the country's flag and held fire crackers.Ibrahim, who voted for the Alliance for Change told the BBC that "growing public dissatisfaction" was a major reason the ruling party lost.

The cost-of-living crisis has been a major issue for many Mauritians, along with a growing concern about governance and corruption.On the campaign trail, both parties promised to improve the lives of people on the islands.