EDITOR – ‘Load shedding’ – two words that are on every South African’s lips. Once again we, the consumers, have to suffer the consequences of bad management, wasteful expenditure and, most importantly of all, failure to plan. There is nothing we can do about the situation but carry on as best as we can.
The least Eskom could do is make it more manageable. We do not know from day to day whether there will be load shedding or not – if you do not listen to the radio or watch the news you have no idea what is going to happen. Furthermore, you can go from stage one to stage three in a day. Can they please be more reliable and stick to the schedules? How can they possibly rectify the situation if they cannot even plan for a day? Many small businesses will have to close, resulting in further unemployment, increase in crime and so on.
The government really needs to get involved. Load shedding needs to be structured differently. Why can’t the whole of KZN have the same load shedding time, for example 12am to 2pm? At the moment you can go to three different places and have to experience three periods of load shedding. This is extremely frustrating and irritating. So please, Eskom, since we have to live like this for the next five years or more, could you at least be more consistent, so that consumers can plan their days, not having to wait with bated breath as to what the day will bring. Furthermore, I hope bonuses will not be paid to management until the energy crisis is under control.
I sincerely hope that the government does something to help small businesses, by allowing them a tax rebate on generator purchases or running costs.
On a lighter note, ‘LOL’ no longer means ‘lots of love’ but lots of ‘load shedding’.
Sherryll Galvin
Cowies Hill
