I`m typing this wrapped up in a duvet in bed as I try to overcome the all-pervasive, never-ending flu.
Fortunately, I have a laptop, or I wouldn`t be writing this at all. The power has, according to the radio in my car, been coming and going all day.
I`ve had to park my car on the street because I don`t know where the override on the electric gate is. And parking on the street in Jo`burg is asking for trouble.
Time is short; the battery on my laptop is running out. It`s apparently not only my area that is short of power. Which means it`s not just the corner caf'e that can`t sell bread, milk and eggs.
Every time the power goes, we bemoan our fate. We can`t get cash out of the ATM to pay speeding fines with, we can`t buy things on credit, and we can`t log on and check our mail. Fortunately, my mobile will work until the battery dies.
The loss to companies after the recent Koeberg incident runs to a number with many zeros.
Nicola Mawson
Folk in the Western Cape are - I`m sure - pleased it`s not only them who are unable to make a cup of coffee and get on with the business of doing business. The loss to companies after the recent Koeberg incident runs to a number with many zeros.
And therein lies the rub. Who, exactly, should carry the can for this loss? Eskom? Doubtful after the recent National Energy Regulator of SA`s report that pretty much exonerated it.
Government? Ditto. And after minister of public enterprises Alec Erwin`s recent emphatic retraction that it was sabotage, alleged criminals won`t pay the price either.
And, I suspect, the Koeberg is just one of several incidents that lie ahead until Eskom ups its generation capacity. Worse, the power that we have to consume will be too little unless - as a collective nation - we look seriously at ways that we can limit our need for electricity.
The consequences of my current situation go much further than simply being unable to make a cup of tea.
There are dire consequences for a country with an ambitious growth aim of 6% by 2010. It has dire consequences for a nation that seeks to foster innovation, and it has dire consequences for every business that cannot even place a call when the lights go out.
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