The University of Pretoria spends at least R500,000 a day on diesel to run the generators on campuses and residences at the lowest stage of loadshedding.

Rikus Delport, the university’s director of institutional advancement, says each stage increases the cost by R500,000 and the institution is spending up to R2-million a day during stage 4.

In an answer to a parliamentary question, the minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation provided the daily or monthly expenditures on diesel for a number of South African universities, and the amounts varied… by a lot.