South Africans, as a people, generally tend to believe doomsayers – that’s why the talk at the moment around the country – and in the media – is all about the possible total collapse of the national electricity grid.
But, is this fear justified or will it turn out to be a damp squib – as it was in 1994, when thousands of scared people stockpiled food and water against what their fevered fears told them would be a slide onto anarchy as the country went to its first democratic general election?
Stages
As the country heads into winter and as the stages of load shedding look to be ratcheted up even further, many people are, erroneously, conflating the increasing blackouts with a national grid failure.
It’s erroneous because the whole point of load shedding is, as the name implies, to reduce the demand – or load – on Eskom’s infrastructure… precisely to prevent a collapse.
Experts we spoke to reckon the possibility of a grid failure is low – but their words come against a background of rising panic.
NOW READ: Eskom ramps up load shedding to stage 5
Sasria
Even the state-owned SA Special Risks Insurance Association (Sasria) got in on the act by saying it would not pay out for claims for damage incurred through riots or protests following a grid shutdown.
Although Sasria has subsequently rolled back on that statement, a number of insurance companies have, in the past few months, amended household policy wording to specifically exclude claims related to grid collapse.
And we have the worrying example of what happened in Venezuela in 2019, when that country’s grid went offline for six days, causing shutdowns in hospitals, emergency services and the financial sector.
A total of 43 people died as a result. Given our government’s abysmal record on doing anything, we can understand the trepidation among many. In this situation, though, load shedding may be a blessing and not a curse.
READ MORE: Ignore Eskom’s previous load shedding update, more units broke down
