Alberton fed up with load-shedding

The knock-on effect of load-shedding not only hurts businesses but also on households and schools with SAPS not escaping either.

Over the past few weeks, Alberton residents have been feeling the dire effects of the load-shedding that is gripping the country.

Eskom has announced multiple reasons ranging from repairs and maintenance of their systems as the reasons for load-shedding ranging from stage two to four.

The RECORD spoke to residents, business owners and other role players on how the outages have affected their lives, businesses and safety.

Killing business

Business owners are at their wits end with the load-shedding and the effect this has had on their business and employees.

A disgruntled Gavin Soekoe, the chairperson of Alrode Business Forum, said he has encountered losses worth R60 000 since the beginning of the ongoing load-shedding.

“Other businesses in the area have also been hit hard because they are not able to run night shifts because there’s mostly no power and workers get sent home. Despite that, people need to be paid for having come to work. Everyone tries to take on more work, but the power is starting to kill businesses,” he said.

George Moutsutsus from a bakery in Alberton describes the steps they take to minimise losses.

“If they stick to the schedule, we can get by,” said Moutsutsus. “But when the power goes off outside of the time then whatever we are working on is lost.”

For other business owners, the effects of load-shedding bring their work to a complete standstill. Businesses such as hair salons are also crippled when there is no power.

“We are losing our customers due to load-shedding. A lot of customers cancel their appointments, and it is very inconvenient,” said a local hairdresser from a salon in Verwoerdpark.

According to her, they can help customers with hair cuts, but they can’t help customers with blow waves.

“It’s a knock-on effect,” said Steve Renfrew from Just German. He described how the power cuts affect his compressors and lift as well as preventing him from engaging with his customers. This has led to them running behind on what they need to complete.

He further indicated that it affects his employees who depend on the work for their livelihood.

“The load-shedding is killing us,” said Ahmad Usmam, lamenting how the lack of power has lost him, customers.

For Shahalam Mohammed, the darkness has created a problem with theft as well as a lack of customers.

Far-reaching

At home, the effects of load-shedding have been as great as on the businesses.

“Our fridges and freezers get damaged by the power going off and on,” said Geraldine Janssen.

Other residents have expressed their concerns over their appliances as well. Concerns of safety have been raised with the areas plunged into darkness allowing potential criminals to skulk around unnoticed.

The outages have affected schools as well.

“Load-shedding has created more stress for me. Grade 10 to Grade 12 learners are busy with their exams and their tests only become available at 06:00, which means I have to download the tests and print them out so that they can be ready for the learners at 08:00. With load-shedding, it has become a big challenge,” said the founder of Academic Success, Lizeth Kotzé.

Lizeth also said that both their campuses provide learners with food and load-shedding made this impossible for them.

Brackendowns SAPS has not escaped the load-shedding drama either. According to WO Gerhard Cornelius, when the power goes out it means their systems go down as well.

This includes the systems they use to log and access their files as well as the phones used to report crimes to the station. He did indicate that the darkness as a result of outages can potentially lead to increased criminal activity.