For 15 years, South Africans have been forced to tolerate rolling blackouts as Eskom struggles to keep up with the demand for electricity.
In all this time the situation has got worse, with the country waking up to stage 5 loadshedding on Tuesday with warnings from the state-owned entity that the levels could increase during the course of the week as it did on Sunday.
Batteries going flat, unable to cook, spoilt food, security risks and whingeing children when the internet goes down.
South Africans have been united in darkness as the country’s electricity woes deepen.
While South Africans are right to feel infuriated with the constant, costly loadshedding, not enough noise is being made about it.
Social media is in a frenzy with messages flooding various platforms,but that is almost where it ends.
It is like South Africans have come to accept loadshedding after being plunged into darkness for more than a decade.
The heightened loadshedding schedule also sees many small businesses operating in survival mode after barely making a profit during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It hurts everyone across the country — even those with enough money to counter the rolling blackouts as the cost of devices and petrol soar.
iBhayi Small Business Chamber chair Pieter Kitshoff said the organisation’s members, who were just starting to resurrect themselves after the Covid-19 lockdowns, had their backs against the wall again.
He said while their 60 members were scrambling to rearrange their diaries around loadshedding, it was difficult and often unachievable.
Businesses closed their doors this week and that seems to be the end of it as we have resigned ourselves to the fact of last-minute loadshedding announcements.
Take hairstylist Candice Blom, who works at the Sherwood Garden Centre salon. She loses up to three clients a day due to loadshedding.
Civil society must fight harder and demand more as the so-called decisive recovery plans are clearly not working.
This problem has not been fixed in 15 years and will likely carry on for many more.
We must do more to ensure the government finally acts to ensure a brighter future. Those responsible must be held accountable.
Enough is enough.
HeraldLIVE