South Africa's government says it will launch an urgent appeal against a court ruling that hospitals, schools and police stations be exempt from power cuts - or that they are provided with alternative sources of energy like generators.
Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan says the decision was taken to avoid undue risk to the national grid, at a time when the government was trying to end load shedding.
South Africa has been hit with power cuts lasting up to 10 hours, seriously disrupting the day-to-day lives of people and having a damaging effect on public services and businesses.
Analysts said the ruling would have huge financial costs for the government, and it would find it difficult to implement.