Loadshedding Negatively Impacts People’s Livelihoods


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Electricity is an indispensable part of modern daily life. We suffer when it is cut off as we use it in our homes and in our businesses. It is very hard to live without electricity.

At Lawley electricity outages is another problem because we do not only have loadshedding but also unplanned electricity blackouts. Sometimes, it just switches off for days. When people want answers they are told that is that there is a fault in some of the transformers and that City Power technicians are fixing it.

Paulina Shabalala says, she can understand loadshedding because it affects the whole South Africa. “At Lawley, we are facing a problem at loadshedding and a problem of electricity,” the unemployed mother said, adding that, it is hard for her as she has a child who survives on an electrical device.

They are always fixing a problem that seems it is cannot be solved. Shabalala wishes the government could fix the issue as soon as possible before she loses her son.

Pitso Mokoena (45) runs a business fixing electrical appliances. Nowadays business is low due to loadshedding. He fixes 1 or 2 appliances hurriedly in order to avoid loadshedding taking effect while he is still working.

Mokoena says, “my business of ice cream and selling kotas is slow because electricity at Lawley it is a problem. People could end up starving because the ingredients spoil since the fridges are not affected by electricity cuts. Loadshedding and the general electricity problem are a big use at Lawley. People actually even struggle to recharge their phones.

People who have business such as funeral palours, selling food, internet café and who do welding find loadshedding a big straining on them.

This article is an opinion piece submitted on 20 October 2022. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Karibu! Online or Khanya College. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.

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