Loadshedding is causing headaches for most South Africans but smaller
businesses suffer the most as their daily operations are halted when the lights go
off.
Small and micro enterprises form the backbone of any community – from hair
salons and tailors to small food kitchens, these businesses utilise electricity and
many cannot afford to buy generators when electricity is down. The continued
electricity cuts have had a negative effect on such businesses, especially since the
rollout of Stage 6.
Bloemfontein Courant spoke to a few SMEs: Laschianine Prins, the owner of Lashie’s Glam Salon in Heidedal, said that her profits have decreased significantly because of loadshedding. “On days when I’m fully booked I have to reschedule with my clients because of loadshedding, and most of the time they end up canceling their appointments and that eventually slows down my business.”
Given that she needs electricity to do her job, she said that it is impossible during those two hour intervals. As an alternative to network issues that come with loadshedding, Laschianine uses an EFT transaction system.
Confidence Phandle, the owner of Your Nail Tech Studios in Brandwag, said that she has found a way to work around the power cuts. “In the past it would cut off randomly while I am busy working on a client but ever since there has been some sort of schedule it has gotten better (not great) because it gives me time to plan around the scheduled time for the power cuts.
It has also pushed me to come up with an alternative to ensure that even if the power does go off I can still continue working since I cannot afford a generator.”
Confidence believes that even though loadshedding has caused her countless problems, it has also been a way for her to become creative in how she operates. She has also implemented an EFT payment system to ensure successful payment transactions during loadshedding.
Alex Dieng, an owner of a clothing store in the CBD, said that he had to use a generator but that has brought about more costs. “It costs me about R400 on petrol during those two hours to run the generator and I lose profit because of those added costs.” Given the location and nature of the store, Alex has had to install cameras for security purposes and those are disrupted by loadshedding as it takes a while for the generator to kick in.
A bakery in Pellissier, whose employee wished to remain anonymous, said,
“Seeing that we make baked goods here, loadshedding plays a big role in our day to day. We’ve had to install generators because everything has to remain cool in the freezer otherwise we’d run a major loss.”
Bonolo Moloi
bonolo@centralmediagroup.co.za
