93% of South Africans say they have been forced to throw away food which spoiled in refrigerators amid load shedding, while 38% have had to replace their fridge due to power outages, according to the results of the latest survey conducted by Debt Rescue.
The survey - which paints a disturbing picture of the impact of load shedding on the lives of South Africans - comes at a time when two-thirds of the population can no longer afford three square meals per day, and 41% saying their monthly grocery budget could no longer feed their families.
Debt Rescue CEO Neil Roets said this nightmare scenario had severe socio-economic consequences for everyone in the country, and the worst was there was no end in sight.
"Another key insight from our latest survey is that 67% of people are being severely impacted by the emotional and mental strain of load shedding – and the reasons for this range from fear caused by failing security systems (67%) and the impact of the power outages on effective parenting (68%), to the financial strain of having to replace major household items like televisions, geysers, stoves and refrigerators or of losing your job due to retrenchment,” Roets said.
The devastating impact load shedding was having on families was inestimable, he said.
“When load shedding occurs, there is a large percentage of the population left without basic needs such as running water, heat and light. Aside from food spoiling in unpowered fridges, water cannot be pumped from reservoirs or heated for drinking or bathing, and there are increased safety risks at night when there is no electricity to light up houses or street lights.
“Also, many people are likely to forget to turn off electrical appliances after the power is cut, and electrical appliances that were left on can cause shortages and damage, not to mention unnecessarily wasting electricity. In the end, we, the people, are always at the short end of this stick.”
Meanwhile, according to agricultural organisation Agri SA, power outages are a real threat to the country's food security.
This comes as crops failed for lack of irrigation or farmers planted less for fear of losses.
Agri SA executive director Christo Owen van der Rheede has written to power utility Eskom's CEO André de Ruyter requesting an urgent engagement on the outlook for load shedding in the coming weeks.
He said a reliable power supply was critical for the sector’s irrigation and water treatment systems, and the result of unmitigated power outages would be food shortages and high prices.
Last week, Agricultural Business Chamber(Agbiz) chief economist Wandile Sihlobo warned that while South Africa was in a better place regarding food security, being the continent’s leader, this did not mean there should be complacency.
He said South Africa would need to continue improving food security through expansion in agricultural production and job creation in various sectors of the economy.
Debt Rescue said load shedding, since being introduced by Eskom about 15 years ago, had become a way of life for South Africans – albeit forced – and the country had endured bouts of ongoing power outages that had gone from bad to worse.
2022 was set to become the worst year of load shedding on record.
Energy data analysed by South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) showed that Eskom had cut 2276GWh of electricity in the first six months of this year– more than 90% of the 2521GWh it shed for the whole of last year.
According to EskomSePush, as of October 8, the country had experienced 1 949 hours, or 81 days of national load shedding in 2022. This is almost double that of the 1153 hours over 48 days in 2021.
Intellidex analyst Peter Attard Montalto previously said load shedding was likely to get far worse before President Cyril Ramaphosa’s energy plan started delivering results, saying South Africans should expect stage 6 to stage 8 load shedding in the coming months.
BUSINESS REPORT
Now watch: