“I burnt my client’s scalp” and other load shedding horror stories

A resident in Langa Township, Zingisa Mbongo, said that when the power cut last Thursday after 8pm, a couple got mugged outside his house.

“I was preparing for bed when I suddenly heard people screaming. Immediately my family members ran to see what was happening. We got to the scene after the criminals had left. They took cellphones and a wallet,” said Mbongo

He blamed Eskom for the misfortune and said that if streets lights were on the incident might not have happened. He said that robberies are rare on his street.

JP Smith, City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, said “I have approached the utilities directorate in the council to see if we could exempt communities experiencing serious gang violence from load shedding. Or at the very least ensure that the street lights remain on.”

He said, “This will have some financial implications and will require changes to electricity infrastructure, but they have agreed to investigate possibilities. I have also asked for the Mayoral Committee to discuss this,” said Smith.

Tatenda Sgodobe a Zimbabwean who owns a salon said that Eskom is his enemy. Sgodobe said his mission is to make money but due to the electricity problem he cannot achieve some of his goals.

“I am running a loss because almost every day I spend hours without doing any business and I am losing clients because people think I render bad services.”

“Sometimes when I dry a client’s hair then the electricity goes off, and I become helpless. And also the other day I put cream on client’s hair and the cream burnt the client because there was no hot water and I did not realise that the electricity went off,” said Sgodobe.

Sgodobe said Eskom should find ways to alert locals about the power cuts.

Nombeko Soni, who runs a food takeaway, said that leaders in the community used used to give notice about load shedding to businesses and residents by going door-to-door and by driving around with a loud speaker. This doesn’t happen anymore.

“In a normal business day we make close to R3,000 but since there are unexpected power cuts, I make less than a R1,000 because I do not prepare. One day you prepare then the electricity doesn’t go off and when you do not then it goes off.”

“Some of the workers do not get paid when they are supposed to because the business doesn’t make enough money to pay them that day”, said Soni.

Mxolisi Madyosi owns an upholstery store. He said that as soon the electricity goes off he has to close down because he can’t saw and weld anything without electricity. “I can’t afford a generator and if Eskom cared it would provide all these small businesses with a generator.”

“Eskom is busy increasing electricity prices, yet they are not rendering a good service. We try to make ends meet and yet we are stopped by people who are not affected by this. They [Eskom management] have generators in their houses,” said Madyosi.