As you’ve no doubt noticed by now, Eskom is in a bit of a pickle and has had to bring load-shedding back with a vengeance.
The constant blackouts have taken a toll on everyone in SA, South Africa so for this week’s GO! Question, we asked you to share your load-shedding stories with us.
Sam Naude, who runs local pottery business The Pottery Shed, said his business had been seriously affected by the lack of power.
“I need 8-12 hours of uninterrupted power to fire a kiln. We get load-shedded [sic] three times a day. I haven’t been able to fire a kiln since load-shedding started, so no income but I still have to pay expenses,” Naude said.
This is a story familiar to many business owners, especially those in the food business. There have been many reports of restaurants and grocers having to empty entire shelves of produce because there’s no electricity to keep them fresh.
Kita Botha works as a stock controller for BUCO South Africa and had similar complaints.
“We constantly have no internet at work, which delays our order processing thus affecting our income,” Botha said.
It’s not just businesses that are struggling. Households are also under increasing strain.
“Load-shedding is causing electrical appliances to break and it’s causing our trip switch to go off – it is making us vulnerable with our alarm monitoring too,” Michelle Genders said.
Even pets aren’t safe from Eskom as Susan Shone Roach testified: “Our dog is not impressed as he was half way through a shave at the doggy parlour when the power went out.
“Luckily he has since been completed in his shave.”
