If you have heard anything about (or live in) South Africa recently, you will know that the only thing spoken about more than Robert Mugabe “potentially” being uprooted after 3 decades of power, is the story of load shedding power outages all over the country.
The power outages started small, sporadic and from what I gather, pretty unplanned. They are now regular, longer and proceed whether or not the additional power is required or not. You will lose power according to a schedule so at least now you know when you will be thrown into darkness.
This has, until tonight, not really effected me being in Cape Town, Paarl and Port Elizabeth with the exception of a couple of hours in the morning when I was still sleeping. Tonight however I am in Durban and the folks and I tried to go for dinner. Only now did I see the extent of what this load shedding is doing. Traffic lights and street lights are out. Petrol stations and shopping centers in complete darkness. Most businesses including shops and restaurants are closed. Fortunately the restaurant that we had chosen to eat at is a Thai restaurant and cooks completely on gas.
From what I hear there is no escape from this for many years to come. 2015 is being predicted?
It will soon become the joke: “What did South Africa use for lighting before candles? Electricity!”
I think people will soon get bored talking about electricity and move onto more pressing issues such as Robert Mugabe “potentially” being uprooted after 3 decades of power. God I only hope he steps down peacefully. Crazy man!
