If you're a middle-class South African, it's easy to forget that you live in the most unequal country on earth. That is, until “Unloading” came along.
The technical term for rolling blackouts brought equality to everyone, rich and poor alike, by cutting off the electricity to homes and businesses several times a day. It dealt a severe blow to South Africa's affluent life and infuriated the middle class against the government.
Why do we care about power outages in South Africa? Because South Africa, one of the continent's brightest countries, is at serious risk of falling into failed state status due to its inability to manage its energy needs. This is because it has been done.
For people of color around the world, South Africa is a strong candidate as a country to visit or settle. South Africa is a black-majority country with an infrastructure and industrial base comparable to or better than many developed countries.
Add to that the country's natural beauty and natural resources such as gold, diamonds and platinum, and you have a highly attractive country that ranks as one of the most livable countries in the world.
Arriving at South Africa's glittering modern airport, plying up and down modern highways in luxury sedans, and being welcomed in luxury hotels, visitors may mistakenly believe they have arrived in a highly developed country. . But the power crisis belies this image, with everything shutting down every few hours, causing chaos at traffic lights, homes and businesses.
After years of suffering power outages several times a day, some have resorted to purchasing inverters and generators to survive. But it is not an option available to everyone, especially the poor.
The country, which relies on coal for 77 percent of its electricity needs, has had power supply problems for decades.
But the key to understanding South Africa without falling into the easy stereotypes of a struggling 'Third World' country is that the country was built for 10% of the population under an apartheid system. It's about understanding something.
When apartheid was replaced in 1994 by a democratically elected black government, it was burdened with massive debt and infrastructure built to accommodate only 8% of the population, which was white. .
As the black middle class grew, basic services like water, electricity, roads, and other essential services that government must provide buckled under the new weight.
Compounding a problem that has worsened over the years, the new government, led by former freedom fighters, was learning how to govern on the fly. Meanwhile, the new government's top leaders, including Labour's current president Cyril Ramaphosa, have become fabulously wealthy. The union leader turned businessman turned politician has a net worth of $500 million.
To make matters worse, Ramaphosa's predecessor used Eskom, the utility, instead of solving the electricity shortages that everyone expected to come in the future, to create what was later known as “state capture”. It was stolen from the government.
Eskom's state takeover scandal has had a significant impact on the company and the country, leading to financial losses, operational problems and a decline in investor confidence. It also resulted in a number of criminal cases and investigations, and several people were charged with corruption and other crimes.
The government implemented load shedding as a last resort to prevent a complete collapse of the power grid.
Load shedding schedules are typically published in advance and are based on a predetermined rotation system. This allows power companies to spread the burden of power outages evenly across different regions. Load shedding typically affects residential and commercial customers, but can also impact critical services such as hospitals and water treatment plants.
Load shedding is very unpopular with the general public as it can cause inconvenience and disruption to daily life. The government and power companies have been working to increase the country's power generation capacity and reduce the frequency of load shedding.
President Ramaphosa announced a series of measures to address the country's energy crisis, including stabilizing Eskom, increasing private investment in new power generation capacity and promoting investment in South Africa's renewable energy.
Mr Ramaphosa said Eskom would increase the budget allocated for critical maintenance over the next 12 months to improve the reliability of its power generation capacity, buy additional energy from existing captive generators, and increase the budget available to countries such as Botswana and Zambia. He said he would import electricity from Japan. Arrangements for a power pool in Southern Africa.
The measures are aimed at improving the performance of Eskom's existing power plant fleet, accelerating the procurement of new generation capacity and increasing private investment in generation capacity.
Samson Mulugeta has reported from 45 of Africa's 54 countries and has lived and worked in South Africa for 20 years.
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