At 1700 GMT, the rand traded at 15.2250 against the dollar, 1.2% weaker than its previous close.
The dollar rose after data showing U.S. consumer prices increased more than expected in October and fuelled fears inflation could prove stickier than currently envisaged by the Federal Reserve.
At home, Eskom, which is currently implementing scheduled electricity cuts because of multiple faults in its coal fleet, said on Tuesday the risk of outages would remain until another 4,000 to 6,000 megawatts of capacity is added to the grid.
That could take years if the current sluggish pace of power procurement continues.
Africa's most industrialised nation has experienced recurring power cuts for more than a decade that have constrained economic growth.
"Eskom's failure to resolve the growing power supply problems and the impact on the South African economy is beginning to take its toll on the currency," Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryONE, said in a note.
Investors were also cautious ahead of South Africa's mid-term budget on Thursday.
Economists polled by Reuters are expecting the National Treasury to announce that this year's consolidated budget deficit will roughly halve following healthy corporate tax collections.
The government's benchmark 2030 bond also weakened, with the yield rising 9 basis point to 9.375%.
Stocks however rose, with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange's Top-40 Index rising 0.48% to 61,534 points and the broader All-Share Index climbing 0.44% to 68,278 points.
Gold miners were the biggest winners of the day after the price of gold turned sharply higher on the U.S. inflation data.
Shares in AngloGold Ashanti enjoyed a 10% increase, followed by a 7.8% climb and almost 6% climb in the stock of Gold Fields and Anglo American Platinum respectively.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning, Olivia Kumwenda-MtamboEditing by Peter Graff)
