Business owners lose customers and battle to balance the books
Businesses are dealt a heavy financial knock with the constant power outages
MBOMBELA – For the local business person, load-shedding is an endless nightmare which cuts into profit margins, leaves equipment damaged once the electricity is restored and creates uncertainty for employees who have to be let go as business overheads soar.
Disgruntled business owners are in an uproar over the constant power outages and demand that the situation be redressed before their businesses are irrevocably impacted.
Vera Kolberg is the owner of Pro Plastic Signs in Nelspruit, whose daily operations have been severely affected by load-shedding, cutting into productive time and requiring that she take a whole new approach to the running of the business.
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She added that fuel costs for the generator sometimes run into R 600 per week, which is an expense not budgeted for. Also affected is her speedpoint machine which, she said, is disconnected during outages.
Other business owners shared similar sentiments, like Adriano dos Santos and Harry MacDonald, who operate the Fresh Stop Service Centre in the CBD.
Dos Santos said, “I remember a few weeks ago when the petrol delivery trucks were delayed for five hours because the power was out at the weigh bridge and it cost us a tremendous amount in lost revenue.”
Annetjie Groenewald, who runs The Super Steers Butchery, just a short distance from the Promenade, bemoaned the fact that the constant outages are causing untold damage to the equipment in the butchery.
She said, “Besides the R300 we have to fork out for the generators to last for two-and-a-half to three hours, our equipment has been damaged. This is severely affecting our cash flow.”
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Sibongile Mashaba and Thandiwe Ndlovu are the proprietors of eating establishment, Zambezi Fast Food, who have seen a downturn in the number of patrons because the food is not warm enough.
For Mike Mandlazu, manager of Dansanja Motors, this state of affairs is something he has become used to.
He said, “Fortunately we have a generator on which we spend upwards of R 1 300 per day to fuel.”
As load-shedding increases, it appears more likely that soon jobs will be shed.
