Loadshedding exterminates business, multiply unemployment rate: says councillor in letter to Eskom boss

The resurgence of load-shedding and its far-reaching negative impact on local businesses has prompted Ward 17 Clr Simon Lapping, to draft a letter to Eskom CEO André de Ruyter.

In the handwritten letter, which Lapping personally delivered on May 23 at Megawatt Park, the frustrated councillor pleads with Eskom bosses to consider excluding industrial sites from load-shedding to save the already dwindling economy.
Lapping’s ward comprises large parts of industrial sites in Boksburg and Kempton Park (Jet Park, Isando and Spartan).

He said the power outages have drastically reduced the effectiveness of many companies and decimated many others in these – resulting in job losses in Ekurhuleni and badly impacting the country’s economy.

In his letter, the councillor asked Eskom to leave the industry alone: “I am begging you to reconsider the load-shedding schedule by eliminating load-shedding for the industrial areas so that we can keep the engine of industry and our economy running.
“Job losses are causing enormous hardship. The current situation is unsustainable and I cannot bear the daily requests for food from people who have lost their jobs.”

Also Read: Five ways to protect your home, business from the impact of load-shedding

He pointed out that excluding the industries may mean that, for a period, residential areas may have to carry the burden of load-shedding with additional hours without power to save the economy.
“I understand that leaving industrial areas out of the load-shedding schedule would probably mean additional hours of load-shedding in residential areas. This may be a huge sacrifice for households, but I am begging you to reconsider the load-shedding schedules to eliminate load-shedding in for industrial areas.”

Lapping called load-shedding a pandemic: “I have seen many businesses crash and burn due to the draconian measures imposed during the Covid-19 lock down, sowing much destruction in its path. And I now see a new pandemic occurring called load-shedding or “blackouts” and it is just as destructive as its predecessor.
“As it stands, the industry is trying to recover from the first pandemic which was not man-made. The second one, load-shedding, is man-made.”

Lapping also touched on what seems to be a difficult situation for Eskom’s management to turn the power utility around: “I do understand that you and your board of directors have been given a poisoned chalice and that you are probably having sleepless nights over how to fix Eskom.”
Eskom recently announced that its stage two load-shedding will be implemented throughout the week.

Simon Lapping’s handwritten letter to Eskom:

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Also Read: Load-shedding causes businesses heartaches