When I fled South Africa in 2008 there were already intermittent black-outs due to a lack of electricity supply from the South African electricity public utility Eskom. The key word was 'intermittent' - as in, every few weeks.
Now it appears that the black-outs are a daily occurrence and an accepted part of life. In fact, when there aren't any black-outs it makes news. It's the classic case of slowly boiling the frog to death. If a frog is put suddenly into boiling water it will jump out, but if you put it in tepid water and progressively turn the heat up, the frog eventually boils to death. And so the people of South Africa have been sitting in water getting progressively warmer......
The South African Marxist government likes to call these black-outs 'load shedding' - as if there is a huge load of electricity to shed. It's called Marxist gobbly-gook word spinning. The truth is the opposite - there isn't enough electricity due to mismanagement, corruption and incompetence.
What do you expect if you keep appointing Affirmative Action candidates to run public entities? I mean, imagine when the lucky IQ67 comrade who gets taped on the shoulder to run such a behemoth and then gets to put as many fingers in the money box as he wants to without any repercussions. Christmas every day! And then when he is replaced by the next IQ67, he gets a golden handshake to thank him for his service.
The current Eskom CEO is Andre de Ruyter - a White male. Things must be really bad if the Marxist government is desperate enough to appoint a White man to clean up their mess. Let's see if there is anything to save.....
During evil Apartheid, the government not only kept the lights on in South Africa, but kept the lights on in most of the bordering countries. There was an abundance. Electricity was cheap, jobs were plentiful, and things worked, like clean water, well kept roads, and the lights on.
I came across this Opinion piece the other day titled: Load shedding sheds light on our divisions
In the piece the author Kevin Ritchie (a journalist and a former newspaper editor) laments about how the power shortage has lead to '2 economies'. The haves vs the have nots.
The haves can afford generators so they aren't affected. The poor can't so they live by candle light.
But it's the middle class who suffer the most as they get to support the entire country via their taxes with no bang for their buck.
Sound familiar? Why, yes it does. It's always the middle class who get screwed and are squeezed to pony up the taxes to support the beneficiaries of government largesse.
Margaret Thatcher was a very wise women - hated by the Libtards of course, because she used common sense and was a successful conservative female Prime Minister. One of her timeless sayings was: 'the problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money'.
South Africa has run out of other people's money.
And now onto the approaching water shortages......
Nice to see you back LL. Hope you and family are still happy in Aus.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of 2004 our company was tasked to assess the existing (moth-balled) infrastructure at Escom's Camden Power Station on the outskirts of Ermelo. We presented a comprehensive report to facilitate the renovations and upgrading so as to have some power generation by start of winter. My family and I left SA in January 2005 and yet the circumstances at Camden remained as they were 12 months prior.
As a young man I remember criticisms by a group of foreigners on seeing black labourers digging a trench alongside a road, supervised by a lone white man.... This is exactly what the country needs today.... except that the white man now needs to carry a big stick.... and use it!
Hi Fred! Nice you see you're still online and commenting. Still happy in Aus.
DeleteWhere are you in world?
I've seen so many people commenting from within SA about presenting options to the ANC about how to upgrade the electricity infrastructure, etc. These are not stupid people. But the ANC has ignored every recommendation and trusted their IQ67 comrades instead. Eskom is a symptom of the ANC's incompetence. Then you have SAA, the water works, sewerage, roads, hospitals, schools.... and the list goes on.
Been in Brisbane for 14 years now... My wife (partner... this'll get her going) would much rather be back in New Zealand as she finds Queensland hellishly hot.
ReplyDeleteBeen involved with the mining industry my entire working career (since 1970) so being close to the Bowen Basin suits me just fine.
I spent 6 months in South Africa in 2017 expediting fabricated steel to NSW for a project we had sourced and was based in Krugersdorp as the fabricator was in Chamdor, a neighbouring industrial area (totally surrounded by squatter camps mind you!).
Within 2 weeks of me being there the director of the fabrication company was high-jacked at the main gate on exiting the premises at about 10pm, fortunately without incident as he put the accelerator pedal flat to the floor (500 SEC Merc) and managed to evade them. I left the premises 5 minutes prior and did not notice these blighters who must have been laying in wait.
There were many mornings I'd drive to their offices to find fresh ring marks on the tarred road from tyres being set alight during the night.
I've been told that Krugersdorp has the largest white squatter camp in the country (apparently 1 million inhabitants)... Hard to believe. White beggars at most of the traffic lights.... Very sad.
Very nice to have you back on line LL.... I'll have to link your site to other sites I visit.