A two-week power outage is a “pandemic” South Africans are not prepared for.
After President Cyril Ramaphosa’s official declaration of a state of emergency there has been talk of such epic sessions.
West Coast residents have raised their concerns and opinions on this matter. Ashley Constant from Saldanha fears that if the country goes into total darkness for two weeks he fears the worst will happen.
“A lot of systems will fail,” he says. “Toilets will overflow as the sewage systems are down. We may run out of fresh water in many places because the pumps are down. Health care will be a mess. Fuel stations will be targeted for stock. There will be constant fears that people will rise up, protest and loot.”
Sammy Springleer from Vredenburg said should this happen it will be catastrophic. “Crime will skyrocket because criminal activities increase during load shedding. Households will suffer a lot as food cannot be preserved and businesses that do not have back-up will also suffer loss.”
He also added that most manufacturing plants depend on power to keep machinery running. “If they cannot absorb down time, this means short time for workers, which will have another negative effect on the economy.” Nadia Dreyer, also from Vredenburg, said the outage will add financial, physical and emotional pressure. “There is no way on earth that this will work. Not in a small town such as Vredenburg.”
