Blacked Out

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Blacked Out

Flick! goes the light switch. It is almost hard to remember the action of flipping the switch while entering a room, while the light that floods the room is just another check in the subconscious list of things we do and take for granted every day. In fact, it is almost hard to imagine a day without using some form of electricity in a place where Apple is across the street and Tesla HQ just around the corner. Yet for South Africans, the outcome of flipping a tiny light switch is much more uncertain; in South Africa, the lights don’t always turn on. The country has endured systematic rolling blackouts, arranged to prevent complete collapse of the electrical grid that connects the entire nation, with power cuts occurring on a daily basis (Eskom Crisis:). South Africa is struggling with an energy crisis.

The use of scheduled interruption of electricity for communities, called load shedding, has been recurring in South Africa for the past 10 years, hoping to shed some of the electrical demand off the national grid, operated by the state-run company, Eskom (Eskom Crisis:). Although Eskom’s coal-fired power plants were previously able to sustain the country’s electrical demand, the extent of coverage soared during post-apartheid years, with Eskom unable to keep up with the new demand (Eskom Crisis:). Eskom’s struggle to do so is severely damaging to South African politics, and social life of entire nation, besides posing as one of the largest threats to South African economy (Eskom Crisis:). The South African power crisis is a direct result of Eskom’s corruption and poor economic policy, damaging the health and lives of the South African population.

The perfect storm of Eskom’s corruption, economic mismanagement, and failing infrastructure manifest into the current power crisis affecting South Africa on a political and economic level. While technically able to meet the electrical demand of the country, a little over half the generating capacity is available for consumption; some of Eskom’s coal power stations date back to 1961, and even small malfunctions can close down the entire power plant, resulting in load shedding (Schneider). Eskom has entered the so called utility death spiral, with consumers unable to keep up with the rising tariffs as customers that can afford renewable energy disconnect from the grid; Eskom is in debt with over 400 billion rand ($2.7 billion USD), accounting for 15% of the national debt (Crompton). Political corruption only added to the debt, with “state capture” of capital being a common practice under the past president, Jacob Zuma (Light-Bulb Moment). If Eskom went bankrupt, it could have devastating effects on the national economy, and jeopardize national stability.

Furthermore, while South African blackouts may seem as simply an inconvenient spell of darkness, they instead cause detrimental damage to small business owners and place the lives and health of South African residents in danger. Eskom’s coal powered power generators create intense pollution attributed with causing 2,239 deaths on average per year, with the total cost of these impacts exceeding 2.3 billion dollars per year (Broken Promises:) Blackouts shut down infrastructure within the affected area, leaving homes, businesses, and traffic lights disconnected from the grid, with many unable to afford expensive generators needed as alternatives to the national electrical grid, with small business owners particularly affected (Schneider). Due to damage to the power lines by cyclone Idai in mid-March of 2019, South Africa plunged from Stage 2 to Stage 4 of load shedding, the highest planned load shedding schedule possible; 4,000 megawatts must be shed off the national grid through systematic blackouts, with South Africans spending 1 out of every 4 days in darkness (Slabbert, Slatter).

The South African government is taking action to combat the nationwide power crisis. According to Rod Crompton, a professor with the Wits Business School's  African Energy Leadership Centre, “Eskom needs to simultaneously reduce operating costs, increase tariffs and shed a big chunk of its debt.”(Crompton). Current President Cyril Ramaphosa hopes to decrease debt and corruption through splitting Eskom into three different companies, while also investing in renewable energy (Eskom Crisis:). Until further action is taken, rolling blackouts will continue to be an everyday part of South Africans’ lives.

Works Cited:

“Broken Promises: the Failure of the Highveld Priority Area.” Centre for Environmental

Rights, cer.org.za/programmes/pollution-climate-change/publications/broken-promises-the-

failure-of-the-highveld-priority-area.

Crompton, Rod. “Explained: Why Eskom Is in so Much Trouble.” IOL News, 13 Feb. 2019,

www.iol.co.za/news/opinion/explained-why-eskom-is-in-so-much-trouble-19238470.

“Eskom Crisis: Why the Lights Keep Going out in South Africa.” BBC News, BBC, 16 Feb. 2019,

www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47232268.

"Light-bulb moment; South Africa." The Economist, 16 Feb. 2019, p. 13(US). Global Issues in

Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A574101635/GIC?u=los42754&sid=GIC&xid=47b24384.

Schneider, Victoria. “Crippling Blackouts Paralyse South Africa.” Africa | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 24

Mar. 2015, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/03/crippling-blackouts-paralyse-south-
africa-150312044353795.html.

Slabbert, Antoinette, and Landi Slatter. “Eskom Blames Cyclone Idai for SA's Power Outages.”

CityPress, 17 Mar. 2019, city-press.news24.com/News/eskom-blames-cyclone-idai-for-sas
-power-outages-20190317.