Power to the people! Come again? Power? Sorry mate you have the wrong country, hate to break it to you, yes, wrong place all together. When visiting South Africa please remember to bring a flashlight or two at the very least spare batteries (available locally but at a steep price). It is not uncommon for whole cities to be plunged into darkness with little or no warning. Upon arrival make sure to pick up a copy of the load shedding schedule which will give you the dates and times for planned power outages. That said, please don’t be alarmed if there is no power during the times listed by Eksdom (registered as Eskom).
The “Top Dogs” were warned 10 years ago that South Africa will have a severe electricity shortage if not monitored or if certain actions weren’t put into place. Well folks I’ll be straight with you, we have changed from being a culture of buying food on a weekly/monthly basis to a culture of buying the food you want to eat in the day you’re going to eat it. Fridge sales are also down while gas sales are up. Yes, there is a parliamentarian who owns the local gas company.
No electricity forced the food prices up so don’t expect quality food at good prices, that rumour is a myth created by the Tourism board in order to entice you to visit. Interest rates started soaring and a recession started happening, no one has any money so please understand that the locals, although they may have good taste in clothing, they aren’t wearing it.
Should you be visiting South Africa to do your studies please ensure that you remember your flashlight. Announcements have been made that, due to the irregularity of the power, students are recommended to bring flashlights in order to see what they are doing, especially during exams.
That was our summer, it is now winter and we seem to have a constant flow happening. They doubled the prices in order to pay the CEO of Eskom aka Eksdom (I am dumb) a nice big bonus. Guess they can’t really cut our electricity supplies every five minutes while doing that huh.
What ever you do, do not and I repeat DO NOT, be alarmed should you see someone hanging from an overhead power line. This is normal practice and a number of the locals are trapeze artists, they have had to be how else do you steal the lines?
Death by self electrocution is now ranked as one of the top killers in South Africa. If you want a buzz then SA is definitely the place to be.
Hayden Tompkins
•15 years ago
“is not uncommon for whole cities to be plunged into darkness with little or no warning”
I always like when the power goes out. It’s exciting and makes my day more interesting. (Maybe one reason I adore hurricanes.) Were it not for the internet and my BELOVED washer and dryer, I could probably live without power quite comfortably.
holeycheese
•15 years ago
Wow! I love this kind of “this is special about my country”-posts.. and if I ever go to South Africa I will definitely bring a bunch of flashlights.
When it comes to electricity there’s a huge difference between Israel and Sweden too.. but not like this.
@mmonyte
•15 years ago
I’ll have to pack this torch then 😉
A broad
•15 years ago
I am fascinated by the term “load shedding” as if there is some to spare so we need to rid ourselves of it. On my last trip to SA I remember seeing conventional indoor extension leads lying across the roads in town (even during rain) because houses were ‘stealing’ electricity. Can’t blame them at all. How amazing though that you can still get a performance bonus without performing. I need a job like that!
thatdudeyouknow
•15 years ago
The CEO raise… it’s so silly it’s funny. There was a Dilbert comics about that once. The CEO announces at the stock holder meeting that “the company has lost all it’s money for doing a crappy job and for paying me astronomic salaries and bonuses. I will now resign my post, being as filthy rich as I am. You should’ve invested in ME instead of the company. So long, suckers!”
SanityFound
•15 years ago
Hayden lol yeah luckily for us we are a barbeque/braai nation otherwise we’d have been eating fresh fruit and peanuts. Those lemons things heh yers life without electricity can be fun. Only problem here is that it goes off for weeks, thousands of dollars worth of food goes to the waste lands and companies have had to close. Bread is not baked and milk goes sour… now most people have sold a car in order to get a generator – those in the “power cut” areas.
Holeycheese flashlights are a must! Yeah isn’t it amazing we only value something once it has gone.
@mmo we like that torch lol
A broad yip aint it funny “load shedding” at that time the banned the phrase “black out” then shedded our loads to neighbouring countries (no jokes). Still can’t get over how they manage to steal electricity though, quite the electrifying job… yeah yeah corny I just had to!
TDYK Brilliant! Dilbert always says it best! There were a comics going wild here during that time. The one that stuck in my head is of our president hiding under his table going “what problem? Is that a MONSTER???”
deepsm25
•15 years ago
After scaring me like this — you still invite me???
SanityFound
•15 years ago
HAHAHA I protect you one time shoe shine sheesh what you take me for huh huh punk??? There I was thinking you wanted adventure… *shrug*