Happy New year as unhappy old power-cuts resume nationwide

The feeble state of our nation here in South Africa has resulted in the revival of what’s known as “load shedding” today. The power utility company Eskom, is cutting the power to the nation in scheduled two hour sessions daily or even twice daily if it goes to “stage 2”. How am I supposed to to business or pleasure? Well, each town gets its turn to be powerless throughout the nation, so we are all going to be slightly hampered during the course of the day today, and probably every day for the indefinite future. Welcome to the new normal.

Source The future of South Africa is so bright that we had to shed loads

Load shedding was reinstated late last year and kindly enough postponed over the recent festive season which is now just ending today. And on schedule the power company of the nation is bringing it back. Basically the country has been unable to maintain the power plants of the nation since receiving them 25 years ago from the old government. They have gone into disrepair and are crumbling. They blame it on the poor quality coal available, or the fact that the coal got wet due to extra rain. The truth is that the Guptas sold all our reserve coal to some other nation for their personal profit.

Perhaps the corrupt politicians in the new government are all in collusion with the Guptas, the Indian brothers who hijacked South Africa in a scandal called “state capture” during the previous president. Nevertheless the same political party is still voted in with overwhelming majority by the masses. What a farce. Not only do we still use polluting coal, cheap here in SA, but we have not been able to upgrade our systems for 25 years. The nation is crumbling. The water utility is also losing water to leaky pipes, the most municipalities cannot pay for their water or power, so the entire municipality gets cut off. In other words the people are negatively affected, not by their own actions but by the actions of their municipality, as well as the power and water utilities.

Most of the municipalities are going bankrupt in SA. How long can this load shedding go on before the place collapses? Let’s hear some forecasts from the analysts. Do we have five years, as David Bowie sings? I can’t see it lasting 10 years. Luckily it’s warm and sunny and nobody is going to freeze to death, as in the EU or UK or others in the north during their worst seasons. But business is badly affected, and the economy suffers. This could take us from one level above junk, right down to junk status for international investors.

Well, as a member of BRICS, China will probably come in and take over South Africa. It’s either China or the IMF, so which is the lesser of the two evils? I dread to speculate which is worse. But how ling do we have to endure load shedding for two to four hours a day? We are on the border of Zimbabwe, both literally and now figuratively, as we slide into dacay and eventual collapse. The UN is pleading for food aid to go into Zimbabwe for what now seems to be milions who are on the verge of starvation. Food security is gone in our northern neighbour. And the people are flocking to us, the last place of shelter on the sub-Saharan continent.
The ongoing load shedding is no fun when you live on a farm that relies on a pump to bring you every drop of water. So if the power goes, then the water goes. What kind of lifestyle is this? It certainly is training us up to be prepared for what could happen globally in years to come as water scarcity leads to water wars. In my youth, there was no such thing as bottled water in the shops, not in the scale it is today. I never dreamed of having to buy water. But the planet and our country has changed. I was raised on what I now see was a luxury – potable tapped water, fresh drinking water pouring out of my taps, as much as I wanted all day long. Those days are over.

So take heed world, we are the next canary in the coal mine. A time may be coming when we cannot take water for granted any more. This, along with food scarcity brought about by climate change and economic collapse, will usher in a brave new world, or the need to be brave in the new world under their order. And now, as we are on the brink of global economic collapse, as well as the spectre of a world war in the Middle East, initiated by President Trump, many more nations will begin to feel the pinch where it hurts the most. Not in the pocket but in the throat, as we become parched and starved. Food scarcity is coming, and it’s on the shores of even the USA and EU due to climate destruction last year which affected the crop production there. Even our big brother China is running out of food and grabbing what they can from Africa now for their massive population.

I had better finish here and upload this blog post because the power is about to go off for two hours and I will be left without my luxury of internet, running tap water, and all that I hold so dear. See you on the other side of the load shedding, bring me by bottled water, solar panel and gas stove. I will survive. My cryptocurrency will have to stay where it is...for now.