Why are we so quiet about load shedding?

Being a journalist gives me the opportunity to share the stories of the people in my community - and having the platform of an opinion piece gives me the chance to talk about what concerns me from day to day.

And one of those things is the ongoing load shedding. Not only is it frustrating, but I feel it’s now starting to affect my health.

I hardly sleep because my work is now no longer confined to office hours - I have to work according to the availability of power. And it wouldn’t be so bad if the schedules were reliable, but these days it’s become totally unpredictable, with stages determining the severity and times of the outages changing all the time.

Eskom has turned me into an angry ghost. My refrigerator has become my alarm. I need to hear the sound of its hum to wake up. Without it I know there is no electricity. That’ the person I have become. Almost every night I go to bed angry and hungry - and wake up moody. It has been hard to cook these days because of lack of electricity.

I have resigned myself to the fact that the Eskom issue is a permanent problem that needs a permanent solution, if it will ever come.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns, scientists warned that the virus was something we’d have to live with. I believe that load shedding and the power crisis are things we’ have to live with as well - at least while the ANC is in power.

What makes me angrier are reports that all cabinet members have alternative power sources in their homes while the masses continue to suffer in silence.

I am sick and tired of liars and comrades who couldn’t care less about people other than their friends and families.

And without any doubt, load shedding is a great contributor to crime in this country.

Over the years, the country has suffered crippling bouts of load shedding as Eskom struggles to keep the lights on. I have lost hope in everything. I do not even trust the President who wanted to leave the funeral of the Queen Elizabeth II to come back to solve the problem. Since the president came back, what has he done? Nothing. But I’m happy that his Ankole cattle are doing well.

Most strange though, is that everyone seems to be so meek about the issue. What happened to the South Africans of the 80s who used to be vocal?

Where is the real South African National Civic Organisation? What happened to the United Democratic Front's spirit of fighting the enemy? What happened to our fighting spirit?

The song in my ears is to listen to people telling me that today we are stage four, hayi now six and we are notching up to stage eight soon.

The embattled power utility has failed us. Can’t somebody out there generate his or her own power and sell it to us?