The Dark Age of power outages

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Of course the word burning is used rather tongue-in-cheek, since come winter, many of us might have to resort to candles and paraffin stoves just to survive the chill.

After all, if Eskom is already struggling to provide energy, imagine the dilemma we will be facing come end of June?

Over the last couple of months, from Impala Park down to Sunward Park, residents have bemoaned constant power outages, which it seems has nothing to do with load-shedding (but conspirators might argue otherwise).

And the excuses punted by the metro is no longer offering any comfort to residents who have struggled day in and day out to live in the dark. Taking a cold shower in the early morning is definitely enough to get anyone’s blood boiling.

Even the Advertiser has been targeted for not taking a proactive stance in investigating the cause of the power outages.

The absolute frustrations that comes with unexpected outages reminds me of a time several years ago when living in Plantation, the power was out for about five days.

No substation exploded or no cables were faulty, the problem was cable theft. As soon as the new cable was laid, it would get stolen again. And yes, this continued for days.

At one point I was tempted to camp outside the very spot where the cables were stolen, hiding in the bush, hoping to pounce on the selfish thief who has no regard for residents’ sanity.

Of course, I didn’t take this option because it bordered on dangerous paranoia. And the idea of being a vigilante (since by all accounts law enforcement was failing) in the style of Charles Bronson in Death Wish seemed one step closer to the funny farm.

Who then is to blame for all the power outages?

There are basically three parties involved, sometimes working in tandem, and sometimes as a lone ranger of mischief. They are the metro, Eskom and criminal scoundrels.

Let us just be honest. A lot of cables are outdated, worn and in the process of failing. It seems when the new government took over in 1994, they didn’t contemplate the fact that yes, infrastructure at some or other time does fail.

Things like cables need to be regularly service, checked and replaced. So what happens? The metro it seems only reacts when the paw-paw hits the fan, and the entire ceiling drips food.

Therefore, the metro is to be blamed. As the saying goes, prevention is better than the cure. Who knows how many cables in Ekurhuleni are on the verge of failing for being outdated?

While Eskom denies load-shedding at the moment (except for maybe one day), the reality is over the winter months the lights may go out not because of failed cables, but because the grid is overloaded.

Again, let us be honest. Our power stations are failing, as they need to be updated, serviced and better maintained.

After all, our population is growing, and so does the number of people using electricity. Eskom can blame wet coals on load-shedding; the reality remains South Africa is facing a deepening crisis of lack of energy, because of failing infrastructure.

While the EFF is hollering freedom, ranting on about nationalising the seas (irrational I know), finding the parliament boring, they forget that without power no one feels free or liberated.

So brace yourself, power outages might soon be a reality for all when the winter sets in and the power stations sigh in desperation, very much like the mine workers who think they deserve to be paid more than an educated worker.

Thirdly, the crime factor is causing large-scale problems.

Copper cables are sold for a pretty penny. It is like the drug trade; while the demand remains high, so will the supply. So don’t expect cable thieves, or drug dealers or criminal entrepreneurs selling pirated DVDs to disappear from the scene any time soon.

Here is another scary thought for those who are maybe once again sitting in the dark and reading this on their cellphones.

Our new minster of Energy is Tina Joemat-Pettersson, who was previously the minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. Playing with fishes and plants is vastly different than ensuring SA remains plugged in and charged.

Helen Zille, the opposition leader, has among others lamented the move of Joemat-Pettersson, saying she has performed very poorly as minister of agriculture, and does not deserve to serve in the executive.

The Department of Energy is of critical importance, so you would think that common sense would have prevailed when the ministers were announced.

Oh yes, we forget common sense has also been stolen a long time ago with the cables. After all, how do we explain Zuma’s decision to expand his Cabinet, instead of opting for a government that needs is a leaner, more effective administration?

This exercise to solve the ANC’s internal political problems it going to cost the taxpayer a hefty sum, running deep into the millions, which could have been used to fix the ailing energy supply.

Maybe former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, who has moved to cooperative governance and traditional affairs, would help to resurrect an under-performing department and maybe even cause metro’s to pay Eskom ,which will help the cause over the long run.

At the end of the day, there is not a lot to investigate with power outages. Either the metro has failed, or Eskom has failed, or possibly, someone with long fingers have decided to cash in.

Hundreds of years ago, the world experienced the Dark Ages, a term coined because of intellectual darkness and because of the cultural and economic deterioration that supposedly occurred in Western Europe.

Unfortunately, we are again facing our own Dark Age, and it has nothing to do this time with the lack of knowledge – it has to do with continuing incompetence and lawlessness that will also lead to economic deterioration.

While pondering thus the severity of the matters, sadly my own energy levels have become depleted. It is just me, or does solutions to our energy crisis seem as impossible as South Africa winning the next rugby world cup?