STORY: Sweeping power outages are set to continue in South Africa.

State power company Eskom said on Wednesday (June 29) there was still a high level of absenteeism among its workforce due to a strike and it could take weeks to clear a maintenance backlog.

It was resuming so-called Stage 6 power cuts it confirmed, as it did on Tuesday (June 28).

That means at least six hours of power cuts a day for most South Africans, a level only seen once before in December 2019.

Wage talks between Eskom and trade unions reached a deadlock last week, after which some workers started striking despite a court interdict blocking them from doing so.

Eskom said the system would remain "constrained and vulnerable to additional breakdowns" while works were in progress.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday that Eskom and unions had agreed a wage settlement they would commit to later, but Eskom's two biggest unions later denied an agreement was reached.

They said a new salary offer from Eskom needed to be discussed with union members and at a bargaining forum on Friday (July 1).