With many of the businesses that managed to survive the Covid-19 period not yet fully recovered, load-shedding is now taking them to their final demise.
Checking on clients yesterday, I was horrified to find out that some had closed and others were on the brink of closing.
These businesses include well-known institutions in Benoni, and I just asked myself these questions: Is anyone paying attention to the destruction of people’s livelihoods and job opportunities.
Furthermore, I have also discovered that load-shedding is creating opportunities for criminals and thieves who help themselves to the energy infrastructure while the power is off, which in turn keeps business without power for longer than the scheduled load-shedding.
While many would say they should have generators, the added cost of the diesel or petrol to run a generator on top of already exorbitant electricity costs (before the increase), is a cost that businesses cannot cover.
A large commercial bakery, with a staff compliment of 90 people, told me that he can no longer cope or afford to run a generator, and he cannot pass the increases on to his clients any longer. He is now considering his options, one of them being closing the business down.
If this was normal market trading conditions and normal market cycles, you would be able to prepare to trade out of it, but it’s not.
Small business losses have reached critical proportions, in a country where the majority of people work or are employed by government service including the president, his ministers, and all the politicians from all the political parties that are funded by taxes and tax payers.
The very small businesses that are closing down and the employees of those businesses who lose their jobs serves as a further erosion of the tax base, because more people will not have any purchasing power.
If there is a person out there who has a plan to save us and who can unite us behind him or her, who is not a politician or running for political office, I would love to be in touch with them and help and support them to save our towns, cities, metros, and our country.
Also Read: For Fox’s Sake: Join in, let’s make a difference together
