'It's not fair': South Africans feeling the negative impact of power cuts
Small business owners say they're losing money, motorists have raised concerns about traffic and there are many who are more at risk of crime as a result of the power cuts.
JOHANNESBURG - South Africans across the board are feeling the negative impact of rolling power cuts.
Small business owners say they're losing money, motorists have raised concerns about traffic and there are many who are more at risk of crime as a result of the power cuts.
Stage 2 power cuts ended at 5am on Thursday morning.
READ: How to check your load shedding schedule
The country is currently on stage 4.
#PowerAlert1
Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) June 29, 2022
As previously communicated, Stage 6 loadshedding will regretfully be implemented at 16:00 until 22:00 this evening. Stage 4 will then continue to be implemented until midnight and on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/UPnyTk8ILK
Eyewitness News spoke to a few people about how the blackouts were affecting their lives.
"Going back to the root cause of load shedding because the original concept of load shedding was to relieve stress in our power sources, so if our power sources were to be fixed, however that can be done, then we can eliminate load shedding in our lives, which can improve a lot of things in our lives," one citizen said.
"They should just mop-up the industrial areas but the problem is that even in a business area is also suffering, so it's not fair," another said.
Meanwhile, South African Youth Economic Council is calling for Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter to be fired, saying he is incompetent.
The council is urging government to appoint a young person with experience and technical capacity as Eskom's CEO.
The council has also called for the power utility to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Mineral Resources and Energy Department, saying this will bring stability and certainty.
Bonga Makhanya, executive chairperson of the council: "Not only have we been load shedding a lot, but it's been more frequent under De Ruyter. This is a series of issues relating to one, poor level of maintenance at the power stations and two, lack of a clear strategy to turnaround the entity."
The South African Youth Economic Council has also proposed that Eskom builds more power stations without over-expenditure.
