We have normalised being in an abusive relationship with Eskom

We have normalised nonsense when it comes to the electricity crisis facing our country. It is like we have normalised being in an abusive relationship with Eskom.

Waking up to a cup of coffee made by your own kettle, in the comfort of your home, has all of a sudden become a dream in this country. We get excited going for a lower stage of load shedding because that is how much we have normalised the energy crisis in the country.

Businesses are closing down; the farming industry has been hugely affected, which will eventually result in increased food prices in an economy that is already on its knees. We have a president who has not even briefed the country on what is going on at Eskom.

The military was recently deployed in Eskom but nothing has changed. We have an Energy Crisis Committee which has barely done anything since being on the job. The new Eskom board also seems to have been failing dismally in making sure Eskom does what it is supposed to do, which is actually providing citizens with electricity.

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No one seems to want to take responsibility for the mess that is happening in Eskom. Not a word from the minister of public enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, and the minister of minerals, resources and energy, Gwede Mantashe keeps blowing hot air – and why are we surprised?

As if this is not enough, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) grants Eskom a 18.65% tariff hike to charge us more for electricity that is simply not there.

Eskom is about R400 billion in debt and this number will continue to rise because of all the corruption happening inside the state-owned power utility. The Eskom CEO, André de Ruyter, has recently resigned from the job, with an allegation of being poisoned.

Although he will stay on for a couple of months until Eskom can find a suitable candidate to replace him, no one in their right mind would want to take any of the vacant Eskom jobs at the moment because it would eventually end in failure.

No one seems to communicate exactly when our suffering will end or when the mess at Eskom will be fixed once and for all. Over the Christmas period, Eskom managed to keep the lights on. In fact, for the entire Christmas Day.

Why are they not doing what they did during Christmas to make sure we have power every day? Maybe it is time to take the fight to those in government. Let us do what we did during the SaveSA protest, which intensified the calls to remove former president Jacob Zuma.

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Let us support those who are calling for a national shutdown. Let us unite, as a country, and fight back against those who keep raping our country of its prosperity. Let us stand together and fight corruption as a nation – because this country is all that we, as citizens of this beautiful land, have.

It has taken the ANC government 29 years – but they have eventually managed to collapse our country. We cannot afford to normalise what is happening with the energy crisis where each household goes eight hours without electricity.

It is time to take a stand. It’s in our hands now, South Africa.