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| © Zapiro. See more cartoons by South African Jonathan Shapiro, the cartoonist, known as Zapiro. |
I needed light.
I stumbled to the bedside table and patted the table top for a box of Lion matches. I stuck a match. The head split and, aflame, fell onto the carpet. I stuck another. Same thing happened. Barefoot, I stomped onto the glowing embers (mustn’t burn down the house). The third match flamed … then died before I had time to identify button colors. Another match split and sputtered on the carpet before a match held a flame steady enough that I could light the candle.
I pressed the blue button. Once. Twice.
Glorious silence swelled.
Welcome to South Africa's load shedding, 2018.
A cheat sheet for the uninitiated
Load shedding: the deliberate shutdown of electric power in parts of a power-distribution system to prevent country-wide collapse. Shutdowns, it is claimed, prevent failure of the entire system when demand strains capacity.Eskom: state-owned enterprise (SOE) that manages South Africa’s power grid. Once upon a time, Eskom was judged one of the best utility services in the world, offered industry and business the cheapest electricity available and, by far, the most reliable service in Africa. (Another, more realistic view of Eskom's genesis and history.)
Not anymore.
Eskom instituted load shedding in December 2014 after shutting down two power plants due, it claimed, to diesel shortages. (More about Eskom, from Eskom’s point of view.)
Fuel facts: Approximately 89 percent of South Africa's electricity is generated from coal. The balance comes from oil, gas, and nuclear. (Koeberg, South Africa’s only nuclear power station commissioned in 1984, generates about five percent.)
Adjusting to load shedding
Eskom produces and publishes load shedding schedules in assorted media. The schedule published on its website requires arcane computer programming skills or insider knowledge. It's not for the faint of heart.Eskom segments the country into 11 provinces, 278 municipalities and districts, and dozens of cities and “sub-cities.” To read the schedule, one must know which of 4 load shedding “stages” is operative. The website assumes users know these minutiae and offers no further insight.
Take a look:
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| Try your luck finding a schedule on Eskom’s website. |
One user’s experience
While I knew my province (KZN), and municipality, spelled either Umgeni or uMgeni, I could find neither spelling on the website. Nor did I know which load-shedding “stage”, from 1 to 4, was operative. (Horrors: scuttlebutt suggests further stages may be added in the future, from 4 to 8, depending upon…well, that’s unclear.)Head-shaking inaccuracy
The first (and only) time I consulted the schedule, to plan meals, doctor visits, etc., for a family member undergoing chemotherapy, the outage was presented as running from 8 to 10:30 a.m., or 2.5 hours. It lasted 10.75 hours. That "stage" crush my faith in the system.
Weeks later, and outages have yet to to follow any of Eskom's published schedule.
Infighting?
Enterprising journalists, meanwhile, reported, that Eskom claimed South Africa was running out of coal, that the country's stockpile was down to a 30-day supply.A day later, a representative of the coal industry claimed the stockpile was in no more danger than usual. Rather, Eskom needed to pick up and transport coal to its power stations.
Indebtedness looms?
Eskom's financial disarray--mismanagement, corruption, graft, and widespread siphoning of public funds into private coffers--impacts every South African every minute of every day. Currently in debt to the tune of around R400 billion, the company plans to pass on about R100 billion of that debt to customers. Additionally, theft of conductors, cabling and related equipment continues. In financial year 2015, theft cost Eskom R102 million. It employs approximately 48,000 people at an annual cost of about R28 billion.In July, 2018 Eskom secured a $2.5 billion (about R33.4bn) long-term loan from China.
In September, 2018, "President Cyril Ramaphosa reassured members of the National Council of Provinces that Eskom would not be taken over if it defaulted on its $2.5bn (R33.4bn at the time) loan from the Chinese Development Bank."
The show goes on
Last week, a team of Eskom workers arrived outside our gate. The man who approached stated he was an Eskom supervisor and could his team enter our property to access a nearby pylon.I explained that the pylon was not located on our property. Moreover, a fence and a small waterway made the pylon inaccessible from our property. I pointed out the best access route.
Several hours later a different worker approached the gate and asked if the team could access the pylon from our property. I repeated my explanation.
Two hours after that, our gardener reported Eskom workers wanted to talk to me. I approached the workers idling against a neighbor’s wall. I was asked, again, for permission to use our property to access the pylon. I repeated, again, directions to the pylon.
Soon after, at four o’clock, the Eskom team departed.
Nine o’clock the next morning, another Eskom employee asked me to allow the team onto our property to access the pylon. I repeated directions and added, “You know, I mentioned this yesterday to a number of people, including the supervisor.”
He laughed and said, “I am the supervisor.”
This supervisor followed my directions to the pylon. He and his team spent the day replacing cable and departed at four o'clock.
The saga of Eskom is ongoing. Load will continue to shed. Darkness will prevail without warning. What can you do?
Perhaps these cartoons will help you laugh it off...and enjoy the holidays.
Meanwhile, I notice Eskom trucks on the street outside our house.
How long before I'm asked, by a supervisor, if the team can access the pylon through our property?
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| © Cuan MILES. Learn more about MILES. |
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| (c) Hetemeel.com |
