Zanele Ngwenyama
@zanelengwenyama
Last year I moved to my mother’s house in the rural areas of
Bushbuck Ridge in Mpumalanga. I had just graduated with a National Diploma in
Journalism and was leaving an internship at e-TV in Johannesburg. E-TV had
offered to renew the contract but due to certain reasons I had to decline the
offer – but that story is for another day.
When I moved to Bushbuck Ridge I realised that it is quite
normal for this part of South Africa to go without electricity for long periods
without anyone raising the alarm. I have just gone through another 24 hours of
going back to rural basics such as making fire outside in order for us to make
meals. It’s been raining and as a result I can’t cook today. I often hear
people from other families saying they sleep on empty stomachs when there is no
power. Because we are not in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town or Pretoria – this
story will not be making national headlines on any newspaper or broadcaster.
As it is normal for us to go without electricity for a
minimum of 4-5 hours each time it rains, many have bought paraffin stoves but
some have run out of the fuel as it’s been almost a full day of using them.
Rain also creates other problems as no one has water in the yard here. We must
push wheelbarrows for about 5 kilometres to fetch water from faraway taps.
Those with money often pay people with cars to assist them with this. Today it
is also impossible for people to fetch this important commodity as the rain has
decided to continuously fall with no break.
When I lived in Johannesburg I would go to Nando’s or some other
fast food restaurant when there wasn’t power to cook. If it rained like today in Bushbuck Ridge then I would order in, but I can’t do that here as we don’t have
a Nando’s. Not that I would want those urban ways, that lead to people looking
the way they look there ending up spending thousands at the gym with no results,
to come here.
We have called Eskom about the problem, but no one is giving
any answers. This is the same as when they never tell us about these constant
power cuts and we never know when they would be scheduled for. There is no
alternative for us. We can just hope that someone at the company’s offices in
the area has realised how much in need we are and will try to solve the
problem. I know in Johannesburg it would be a running story on radio and
24-hour news television already. I know I am only complaining about Bushbuck
Ridge, but I think such problems occur all over rural South Africa.
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