Johannesburg - Masentle Mofokeng depends on her electric-powered wheelchair to get around.
From last Wednesday though, she has struggled to move about because intermittent outages have made it a mission for the Protea Glen resident to charge her wheelchair.
When the battery is flat, she asks young boys from the community to push her around and they do it - at a fee.
Mofokeng lives at Tokologo, a home for people with disabilities.
On Friday, alone, she said electricity had been cut from 11am to 9pm.
“We did not have breakfast and lunch, some of us could not move around, because these wheelchairs need electricity.”
In Orlando East, William Ledwaba, the owner of a panelbeating business stood outside his workshop, where expensive German sedans were in for repairs. He hasn’t been able to meet his deadlines.
His phone has been ringing off the hook, with customers calling him to check if their cars are ready for collection.
Ledwaba says electricity was off from noon to 7pm on Tuesday, and then for another two hours on Wednesday, from 10am.
On Friday, there was no power from 8am to 2pm.
He says he has lost about R60 000 in profit. He doesn’t know if he can pay his 15 employees.
“We can’t call this load shedding, because it has no (schedule). I can’t (make payments), my employees also need salaries, it is difficult. (We) are suffering as small businesses,” Ledwaba said.
He is considering buying a generator, but cannot afford it. A generator big enough to power his business will cost R250 000.
“As I speak to you now, we are sitting without cash flow.”
Mariam Rafedile of Moroka is another business owner who is wringing her hands in frustration.
One of the rooms in her house burnt to the ground after a candle was left unattended on Saturday night. She blames Eskom.
“I had to continue, I could not stop because of electricity, if it was not for power cuts, my house would not have burned.” She said there was no electricity from 7am to 12.30pm on Friday and on Saturday, it was cut off from 6pm to 10pm.
The greater part of Orlando East was still without electricity late on Sunday afternoon.
The Star