WITH electricity outages and load-shedding impacting on various aspects of the lives of South African’s, south Durban residents have been forced to make plan to adjust to the circumstances that arise when there is no electricity.
Expressing little to no faith in Eskom, residents shared their views on the never-ending cycle and stages of load-shedding.
Octavia Makhathini: Load-shedding has become a disease in my eyes. There are many ways in which it affects ordinary living. I have to wake very early to iron school uniform. I cannot cook when I plan to as load-shedding decides when I do these chores. For months, we do not buy enough meat at we fear the electricity will go off for days soon, and we stuck with rotting meat, not to mention the waste of money.The stress of writing an online exam, then loadshedding begins, its madness. I have no faith in Eskom. I dont think they can turn things around without foreign assistant.
Lenny Govender: Load-shedding is more than just an inconvenience, it has real consequences on our daily lives as food spoils in the fridge and there is damage to electrical equipment which has a huge impact at households. This crisis has also affected the production of safe drinking water. Damage to equipment and cable theft causes traffic nightmares. There is major negative impact on the old, vulnerable and younger residents during these times. Security at homes and businesses are comprised. Loading-shedding is causing anger and frustration throughout our communities and country at large. I’m still trying to stay optimistic as there is another government bailout. But this time I pray the cookie jar is guarded from these thieves.
Nadeem Omar: Bearing the brunt of continuous load-shedding leads to so many frustrations as the effects have a ripple effect on our everyday lives and livelihoods. Those who are sick and depend on electricity for their health related issues are affected the worst. I believe that the problem at Eskom will not be resolved anytime soon and it will be a long time from now, where we can finally return to normality.
Sheldon Francis: Load-shedding will stop because the people in government do not experience the effects of it, so they could not care less about how it affects us. All monies or funding that will be raised to rectify the problem t Eskom will be stolen or go missing. The sad thing is many pensioners can only afford to buy R200 to R300 meat per month and in most cases their meat goes off. Small business and local butcheries are running at a high loss. Load-shedding welcomes crime in communities, mainly at night. I watched a news bulletin were outgoing Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter, says ‘at least R1 billion is being stolen from Eskom every month. When will this end?
Janine Ferguson: This crisis is a nuisance and inconvenience. Self-employed business owners run a loss with wifi switching off during load-shedding, therefore we can’t administrate. Our homes are at risk as the roads and homes are plunged into total darkness, making it easy for criminals to lurk. My geyser blew up during the last power outage and insurance does not cover this, leaving us with higher living costs. I have no faith in Eskom. There seems to be no end to this crisis.
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