Loadshedding Cripples Township Business and 7 Other Times Eskom Trended for the Wrong Reasons
- 2023 was not a good year for the country, which buckled under the pressure brought by loadshedding
- The economy teetered, businesses shut down, and Eskom faced a crisis that had netizens questioning its capability to end power cuts
- Briefly News put together a few instances when Eskom made headlines for its failures
Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News's current affairs journalist, offered coverage of current affairs like loadshedding and environmental affairs during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.
Source: Getty Images
Eskom made a lot of blunders in 2023, some of which revolved around depriving the country of electricity. Loadshedding has shown the country's business, households and economy flames, and Briefly News compiled a list of the top stories when Eskom became Eishkom.
Township businesses fire workers because of loadshedding
Small business owners operating in townships were forced to fire their workers because the rolling blackouts made breaking even difficult. The Nedbank Insights Report revealed that almost 66% of companies were forced to cut jobs, while 64% had to shut down permanently.
Eskom expected to run out of diesel
Eskom also faced a crisis when it announced that it was running out of diesel. The then-chief operating officer, Jan Oberholzer, revealed that Eskom needed 200 million litres of diesel to keep operating until March 2023.
KZN farmer throws out 12K litres of milk
A KwaZulu-Natal farmer angered South Africans by throwing out 12000 litres of milk that constant loadshedding spoiled. He revealed that his equipment was damaged by loadshedding, which also prevented him from using the backup system he had installed.
ArcelorMittal to shed 3500 jobs because of loadshedding
Steel manufacturing giant ArcelorMittal announced they would have to terminate 3500 jobs. This was because loadshedding severely impacted the business's ability to generate profit. Transnet's operation costs and the scrap metal ban also put the final nails in the company's coffin.
SAPA warned of chicken shortage because of loadshedding
The South African Poultry Association sent shivers down Mzansi's spines when they announced that continuous loadshedding threatened the country's chicken supplies. Consequently, this threatened KFC's franchises, and SA made jokes about it.
Woman uses pot to iron dress during loadshedding
A woman used loadshedding woes to make the nation laugh when she used a pot to iron her clothes. The lady's TikTok video shows her heating the pot and ironing her dress.
Man switches electricity off during loadshedding
A TikTok video of a municipality worker switching the electricity off during loadshedding went viral. The man showed how he threw his municipality into darkness, prompting many South Africans to joke about him.
Eskom announced Stage 6 loadshedding
Eskom depressed citizens when it implemented Stage 6 loadshedding in February. A video of Eskom trucks on the road had people believing that Eskom was fighting loadshedding, but many felt hopeless when Stage 6 was implemented.
Kusile Ubit 5 went online, SA unimpressed
Recently, Briefly News reported that Kusile's Unit 5 went online and added 800MW of capacity to combat loadshedding.
Eskom announced that the unit went online on 31 December and will undergo six months of testing. South Africans were unimpressed and called Eskom and the government out, accusing them of trying to manipulate their feelings for votes.
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Source: Briefly News
