gen*z*gal

Ashley Van Zyl

Load Shedding and Local Businesses: ZL Leatherworx

Load Shedding and Local Businesses: ZL Leatherworx

by ·

Hello all!

In my last post, I discussed the impact load shedding has on LaWindpomp and the restaurant business. On my second visit to LaWindpomp, I was introduced to Ms. Pienaar. Pienaar is the owner and operator of ZL Leatherworx, a small business in the African Bushveld.

ZL Leatherworx creates a wide range of products: rifle bags, furniture upholstery, vehicle upholstery, handbags, and pretty much anything crafted out of animal hides or leather. You can check them out here: https://www.zl-leatherworx.com/

Her products are crafted by hand but require the help of various power tools and additional staff. Unlike LaWindpomp, the ZL Leatherworx workshop does not have a generator. This means that when the power is out, it is OUT. Zilch, nada, nothing.

I can’t operate at all during load shedding. My sewing machines, foam cutter, air compressor, spray gun and glue gun… all run on electricity,” explains Pienaar.

This puts more stress on her shoulders because she is still working to meet deadlines and fulfill orders.

My staff must still be paid during the outages but since they cannot do any work until the power is back on, I have to pay overtime to get the job done,” says Pienaar.

Back in my home state of Louisiana, it’s impossible to forecast the weather. We can experience all four seasons within the same week. In South Africa, it’s impossible to forecast your business hours for the upcoming week.

Business owners can plan the next day around the stage one load shedding schedule but can wake up the next morning to a notification from Eskom saying they’ve implemented stage three load shedding.

Pienaar says that she is looking into purchasing a generator as her business expands. For now, she will continue to check the load shedding status and plan tomorrow to the best of her abilities.

Load Shedding and Local Businesses: LaWindpomp

Load Shedding and Local Businesses: LaWindpomp

by ·

Hello all!

In my last post, I overviewed South Africa’s electricity crisis. Now, it’s time that we talk about the impact load shedding has on local businesses.

During my stay in the Limpopo province, I visited Marken’s only restaurant/pub, LaWindpomp. The rugged landscape and interior of this establishment screams of authentic Afrikaans culture. Let’s just say I stuck out like a sore thumb in my Nike shorts and Adidas Superstars.

In the main dining area, you’ll find animal hides and locally-crafted furniture available for purchase. On the menu, you’ll find traditional dishes such as the spicy minced meat known as bobotie and South Africa’s “Boerewors” sausage. Naturally, I ordered a Hawaiian pizza.

While dining at LaWindpomp I had the opportunity to meet one of the owners, Pierre.

As an American new to “load shedding”, I had a few questions about how his business operates around the scheduled blackouts.

“Really there is nothing we can do. We have the generator but can only operate at 50 percent capacity,” says Pierre.

LaWindpomp loses business during load shedding because they cannot offer the full menu or take credit card payments, which opens the “menu” to locals wanting to drink, eat and be merry on a tab. A logistical nightmare!

“The kitchen cook steaks with the gas grill but cannot offer pizza, fries, onion rings or anything else,” explains Pierre.

This means that a customer’s options are limited to steak and salad during blackouts. Oh, and the full bar.

Basically, the generator is there to keep the lights and fans running. The Wi-Fi works during load shedding but card payments cannot be accepted because service provider towers are down during this time. This means turning away customers without cash or those not willing to stay and wait it out for the full menu.

I decided to swing by LaWindpomp again but this time during stage four load shedding. I figured there was nothing else to do during the blackout, so why not grab a glass of wine and experience the local vibe?

T-minus 30 minutes until load shedding hits! The following sign was posted at the entrance to remind customers of the limited menu and payment options.

We were only in the dark for about two minutes before the generator kicked on. After my first glass of wine, I’d completely forgotten that the full menu wasn’t available and I was craving another Hawaiian pizza. Oh, the load shedding struggle.

During my hangout at LaWindpomp that evening, I was introduced to Ms. Pienaar, a small business owner. Her at-home leatherworks business takes a harder hit than LaWindpomp.

Check out my next post to hear what Ms. Pienaar has to say!

A glance into South Africa’s electricity crisis

A glance into South Africa’s electricity crisis

by ·

Up until recently, I took for granted the availability of uninterrupted electricity that many Americans enjoy. I also underestimated a brainless, heartless invertebrate’s ability to halt the production of all hot stovetop meals. I know what you’re thinking… what does that have to do with anything? Stay tuned.

Things changed when I came to South Africa for a semester and discovered just how deep the electricity crisis goes. Some would say as deep as the ocean.

I’m going to shed some light on (pun intended) the effects of the Eskom crisis here in South Africa.

Eskom

What is Eskom? Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd is the state-owned utility supplier that provides power to the whole of South Africa. Most of the power provided by Eskom comes from coal-fired power stations.

There are many factors that go into this crisis: political corruption, mismanagement, high demand and debt. There are many repercussions to these factors. The mishandling of the electricity crisis impacts every South African citizen.

Typing the keywords “Eskom” or “Load shedding” into any search engine will lead you to endless articles covering the latest corruption scandals or power station failures. But what it will take you longer to find is information on just how deep the roots of this problem go.

In the early 2000s, the government had plans to build two huge power plants – Kusile and Medupi. According to BBC News, the new power plants were supposed to be fully operational by 2015, but increasing costs and corruption scandals delayed these plans.

According to South Africa’s engineering news, the Medupi project’s completion date has been pushed back to the 2020/21 financial year. As for the Kusile project, South Africa’s Business Insider outlines the nitty-gritty of the situation: Kusile is only expected to be completed in 2023, nine years behind schedule.

The original plans for the Medupi and Kusile projects were expected to only cost around R163 billion. South Africa’s rand is quite weak but $1 is around R16. In today’s exchange rate, that equals nearly $10 billion. The cost of construction for Medupi and Kusile has taken so long that now there is a LOT of accrued interest. I could not find an approximate number for the cost including interest but according to Eskom, the cost for only the Kusile project as of Jan. 31, 2015 was already at R118.5 billion.

Enough boring talk about the numbers now. What does this mean for South Africans?

Load shedding

Well, this is where the load shedding comes into play. Load shedding refers to scheduled blackouts that are meant to reduce the load of power to meet demands. Depending on demand and maintenance issues, there are various stages of load shedding.

While Americans check the weather daily, South Africans check the load shedding conditions.

Each stage implies how much of the national load is to be shed. For example, stage 1 allows for up to 1,000 megawatts of the national load to be shed. The frequency of load shedding increases as higher stages are used. Conditions can change within the same day if one of the poorly maintained power stations decides to breakdown.

Let’s fast forward to the most recent Eskom utility issue that sent South Africa’s load shedding status from stage 1 into stage 4 within the same day. The country has two nuclear power plants that generate 5 percent of its electricity.

On March 10th one unit at Cape Town’s Koeberg nuclear power station tripped due to a clogged drum filter. What was the drum filter clogged with? You guessed it… the brainless, squishy invertebrate more commonly known as the jellyfish.

The jellyfish and other marine life clogged a filter at Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear power station, causing blackouts to be implemented for the following week. According to Eskom, maintenance was already scheduled for this plant sometime during the upcoming week. Perfect timing, jellies.

This is one of many examples that exemplify the mismanagement at Eskom.

“In total, the national grid was experiencing a shortage of supply of more than 17,500 megawatts,” explains the African News Agency.

So, next time that you think you may have it rough back home, just remember that jellyfish were the reason many businesses and citizens could not use credit card machines or cook a hot stovetop meal!