No power, no oxygen
“We had installed an inverter in her home in the event that the power supply is interrupted but the frequency of the loadshedding is preventing it to charge sufficiently.”
A Greenstone woman believes loadshedding has placed the life of her 80-year-old mother at risk.
Eskom’s response to the public’s concerns about loadshedding sent the daughter into a rage. Eskom said stage 4 loadshedding was “no cause for alarm”.
This upset Susan Klinkert, daughter of Joy Hook, who is dependent on an electrical oxygen machine to breathe.
“This simple statement has infuriated me. It is totally insensitive and without consideration to the people enduring the constant power outages,” Klinkert said.
Mother and daughter hardly slept on the weekend of March 15 to 17 because of the high number of outages that left the family without electricity for hours.
They monitored Hook’s machine constantly, worried she would run out of oxygen.
Also read: Get your kitchen load-shedding ready
“The consequences of my mother not receiving oxygen are life-threatening.
“We had installed an inverter in her home in the event that power supply was interrupted, but the frequency of the loadshedding is preventing it to charge sufficiently,”Klinkert said.
During the weekend mentioned, Greenstone Hill area had no electricity on Saturday from 4pm to 9pm, on Sunday from 4am to 11.30am and 9pm to 10.30pm.
Because of the aggressive nature of loadshedding, Hook’s oxygen machine broke down.
Hook had to go to a Greenstone Mall restaurant to get electricity for her machine.
“The inverter that runs her oxygen concentrator cannot supply oxygen for eight hours continuously, especially when it is not able to charge fully,” said Klinkert.
“Some areas are not having any loadshedding at all, and only high-density areas are targeted. I feel like we are being personally attacked because Greenstone Hill is a high-density area,” said Klinkert.
Hook has not been able to sleep because she worries she will run out of oxygen.
“I am too scared to sleep,” said Hook.
“My mother even cried and told me she wished her time would come because she just could no longer take the stress,” said Klinkert.
When all else fails, Klinkert takes her mother to her sister’s home in Dunvegan to access electricity.
“They need to implement equal loadshedding. We can handle loadshedding for a few hours a day, but not when it is aggressive and repeated in one day when other people are not experiencing loadshedding at all,” said Klinkert.
“I can’t get even a cup of tea, and I don’t buy ice cream anymore which is one of my few treats,” said Hook.
Klinkert hopes consideration and solutions will be made for people who have life-threatening conditions, and depend on electricity.
Also read: 10 must-have items in your kitchen on loadshedding days
Bongani Nkomo of Ward 32 has been in contact with Klinkert.
“Our biggest challenge as the City of Joburg, specifically City Power, is the lack of information afforded to us by Eskom.
“I have requested residents from the various estates to document their complaints and concerns. This would allow me to send these to City Power and to MMC Nico De Jager, who would then take concerns directly to Eskom.
“I am sensitive to the fact that a case like this needs to be treated with the utmost concern given its life-threatening nature. Besides engaging with Eskom, there is very little that can be done to make this process a lot more comfortable for residents,” said Nkomo.
Eskom media desk was asked whether certain areas were targeted for loadshedding.
“By switching off parts of the network in a planned and controlled manner, the system remains stable throughout the day, and the impact is spread over a wider base of customers,” Eskom national spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe replied to the NEWS inquiries.
Eskom has further commented on loadshedding. Read the story on page …
