2 hours and 20 minutes seemed like a long time – especially when it was going to be spent crawling along in bumper-to-bumper traffic along William Nicol (a freeway in Johannesburg) to cover a distance usually covered in 25 minutes...
All of this because a few crucial traffic lights weren't working due to load shedding.
Admittedly I’m not a big talk radio show fan (it seems some people take a while to reach the point – much as I’m doing now…) but I thought it might be a better use of my time than my usual 6 o’clock mix listening. I tuned into a business talk show on which one of the topics of discussion was [no surprises] the load shedding (go here to learn how it works), and the effect it would have on our economy. When Tito Mboweni, our former Reserve Bank Governor, tweets the following: “with a GDP of +- 300bn dollars, how do we function & grow? I see a recession, deep one in the horizon. Let us avoid it. Bring back da power!”, even the most jaded might start feeling a little nervous.
We all know it is a “BAD THING” but this was the first time (slow, I know) that I thought properly about the many implications thereof. Yes, #firstworldproblems, you may sit in traffic for longer than usual, have no air-conditioning and no good coffee but as the middle class, we won’t be worst affected. Load shedding will ultimately lead to job losses, and generally, shift workers and those performing tasks that can be automated will be first to go, making the country's already-poor working class, even poorer and adding to the unemployment number.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a worrying trend of shirking public service delivery obligations – with our education and health systems also being casualties. Although systemic failures such as these also provide a wonderful opportunity for innovation and resourcefulness, the respective root causes of these issues are not being addressed by those responsible for doing so. As some suggest, requiring a skills audit might be a good place to start. But in addition to holding government to account, perhaps we should approach this as a team effort and do what we can to save electricity - for the sake of everyone. Let's not ignore the problem because we feel we aren't to blame.
*After all that, for a happy story about a resourceful entrepreneur, go here.
All of this because a few crucial traffic lights weren't working due to load shedding.
Admittedly I’m not a big talk radio show fan (it seems some people take a while to reach the point – much as I’m doing now…) but I thought it might be a better use of my time than my usual 6 o’clock mix listening. I tuned into a business talk show on which one of the topics of discussion was [no surprises] the load shedding (go here to learn how it works), and the effect it would have on our economy. When Tito Mboweni, our former Reserve Bank Governor, tweets the following: “with a GDP of +- 300bn dollars, how do we function & grow? I see a recession, deep one in the horizon. Let us avoid it. Bring back da power!”, even the most jaded might start feeling a little nervous.
We all know it is a “BAD THING” but this was the first time (slow, I know) that I thought properly about the many implications thereof. Yes, #firstworldproblems, you may sit in traffic for longer than usual, have no air-conditioning and no good coffee but as the middle class, we won’t be worst affected. Load shedding will ultimately lead to job losses, and generally, shift workers and those performing tasks that can be automated will be first to go, making the country's already-poor working class, even poorer and adding to the unemployment number.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a worrying trend of shirking public service delivery obligations – with our education and health systems also being casualties. Although systemic failures such as these also provide a wonderful opportunity for innovation and resourcefulness, the respective root causes of these issues are not being addressed by those responsible for doing so. As some suggest, requiring a skills audit might be a good place to start. But in addition to holding government to account, perhaps we should approach this as a team effort and do what we can to save electricity - for the sake of everyone. Let's not ignore the problem because we feel we aren't to blame.
*After all that, for a happy story about a resourceful entrepreneur, go here.