Disgruntled Cornelia community feel the brunt of Eskom’s blackouts!

Cornelia locals were this week subjected to full days and nights of load shedding, with no power, and this has led to many to resort in using gas as an alternative source of power, while businesses are struggling to operate swiftly due to the power cuts.

South Africa’s embattled power utility intensified various stages of load shedding since start of winter season, and this has heavily affected the underprivileged and businesses.

Kasi Voice News reached out to concerned members of the small township of Cornelia, situated in Mafube municipality, to further understand the hardships that the residents have endured during the black outs.

One of the residents’ Sizwe Moloi who sells coals for a living, said his business went to its knees, as customers, could not get hold of him to place orders due to the poor network coverage, strained by the recurring load shedding.

“Older people are mainly my customers because they are trustworthy. If the is no electricity they can’t reach me on my cellphone and that affects my business and also myself as I solely rely on coal business for survival,” said Moloi.

Thandeka Gamede said, since youth unemployment rate is high, she does trading and online jobs as a way to have source of income.

She further said that, when the is no electricity then she cannot make and feed her family.

“I am an individual who solely rely on Forex trading and doing online tutoring, if the is no electricity I can’t trade and I lose tutees since I allocate time to my students, then I am unable to show up at that time,” said Thandeka.

Kasi Voice News also engaged with school learners to better comprehend the hardships endured by school pupils, most particularly matriculants.

Pupils at Bongane-Lebohang Secondary School were concerned that they go to school with an empty stomach, and this heavily affects their learning.

Other pupils said they opt to bath with cold water due to the black outs.

“In my home we rely on electric kettle for plugging water so if the is no electricity I go to school with bathing with cold water and with an empty stomach,” said one of the grade 8 learners.

While several businesses rely on electricity to do their operations, when Eskom intensify load shedding, these businesses suffer ponderously.

Hair salons and supermarkets have raised with deep concerns how load shedding affected their appliances due to the recurring load shedding and power cuts.

For some, they addressed how the blacks have impacted their businesses and have lost their clients.