‘On the verge of closing down’
Residents and local businesses will feel the pinch with one local businessman fearing that his business will most likely have to shut its doors if Eskom's load-shedding continues for years.
While struggling power utility Eskom considers implementing permanent load-shedding for the next two years, people throughout the country will have to find alternatives to keep the lights on.
Also read: Relationship between insurance and load-shedding
The effects of load-shedding will have a ripple effect crippling businesses and the economy alike.
Not only does this translate to a disaster for those who cannot keep up, it also speaks of job losses to thousands if not millions of people who will fall through the cracks. To get to the true effects of this, the Herald will be doing a series of articles, unpacking the reality that local businesses are faced with and what this means for them.
Also read: How to manage your laundry during loadshedding
The Herald will also be exploring ways in which they will manoeuvre what could be their new reality. We recently took to the streets of Ten Acres and spoke to local businessman Mahfuzur Rahman who said he fears that his business will fall flat on its face once this becomes a reality.
He owns a convenience store in Ten Acres, which also doubles up as a butchery.
“Load-shedding has dire consequences and we are the ones who stand to suffer the most. Thieves are thriving every time there is a power outage. Cable theft and damaging of substations also leaves us with no electricity for numerous days so one can only imagine what will happen when load-shedding is implemented indefinitely,” Rahman said.
He is one of the many businesses who have been without power in Randfontein for more than two weeks.
This comes after the Lafarge substation exploded due to cable theft recently plunging the whole of Finsbury into darkness including Ten Acres and its surrounding areas. As a result, Rahman spends approximately R700 on diesel every day to fire up his generator.
“Eskom’s announcement of continuous load-shedding for two years is certainly not good news for us, or anyone. We are already suffering as it is and our businesses are at the verge of closing down. All my meat has gone to waste, as well as the milk I had and all other products I had kept in my refrigerators. No one is even buying the beverages in my shop because they are not cold.
“I can’t afford a big enough generator to light up everything,” said Rahman, who added that although he has retained all of his employees, he doesn’t think this will be possible should Eskom forge ahead with its plans.
Meanwhile, the power utility held a briefing on January 22 where Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwana said that its recovery plan is only expected to bear fruit in about two years’ time.
He said they wanted to implement permanent Stage 2 and 3 load-shedding consistently, in order to carry out maintenance.
“However, the reality is that the recovery of the Eskom coal fleet, currently comprising 80 percent of our generation power mix, will not be achieved within the short term. It will take at least two years to ultimately reach the perfectly desirable energy availability factor.
“We want to ensure that we create some predictability by implementing some level of permanent stages of between Stage 2 and 3 load shedding for the next two years in order to give sufficient space for maintenance, while giving the country a level of predictability or consistency to plan livelihoods better.” said Makwana.
