Most of us are affected by load shedding and the eternal cycle of power cuts is taking its toll on the nation.
A colleague of mine suddenly started screaming in the office today. We all ran to her because she was sobbing uncontrollably. We tried to calm her down and understand what was going on, but she only repeated “ons is gedoem”.
The trauma unit came to the rescue and after 3 hours in a very disturbing atmosphere, the trauma counsellors said she needed days off work as the level of anxiety and unnecessary stress she was experiencing was dangerous.
This is why Cathy, like many South Africans, is tired and believes that we’re all doomed.
She has three children, all of whom don’t understand why the electricity goes out. The generator the household bought to replace the power cuts now uses more petrol than the car uses in a week.
She has to mentally prepare for the blackout every day.
The increasing silence and sense of vulnerability that comes with the realisation that darkness has become the norm make it hard to sleep.
She and her husband are woken up two or three times in the middle of the night to take the children to the toilet. She has to get up early to bathe the children and then go back to bed to avoid a bath with cold water.
Two houses away from her house are houses that are on the basic electricity lines, which means that their lights stay on when she and her children need to understand the measures taken to cut off the electricity.
Like many people, she doesn’t cope well with this because electricity is good for mood, for entertainment or just for the pleasure of a lit room.
All that has changed since the load shedding began 16 years ago and now the constant power cuts are far more than just an inconvenience.
Load shedding hurts small businesses, disrupts traffic flow, increases theft (e.g. cable theft), affects the productivity of people working from home without backup power, damages appliances and causes refrigerated food to spoil very quickly, and much more.
Eskom doesn’t adhere to the timetable for power cuts, resulting in more load shedding at the last minute. The government of the day has made endless promises, but in the last 4-6 years it hasn’t been able to show any tangible improvements.
AngelsCorp energy specialist Nina Hollins believes that the influx of Chinese suppliers offering alternatives isn’t a good mix in the current situation.
The people who are supposed to bring about change are unimpressed because they have alternatives, which is why it could take longer for the grid to work again.
Hollins says if a total power shutdown is needed to fix the mess, the government needs to stand its ground and put a visible plan in place to show citizens it’s on the job.
It’s 8pm South African time as I write this post and I’m left to conclude that there is little hope as I sit in a dark room.
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