Once the highly infrastructure developed economic powerhouse of Africa, South Africans these days are more interested in the outlook for rolling blackouts. The country’s most-downloaded app provides schedules, alerts and forecasts for power outages.
Eskom, the state power monopoly, is struggling to generate enough electricity to meet needs, and has re-introduced a byzantine system of rotating outages known as “load-shedding.” On February 11th a whopping 4,000 megawatts of power, enough to power some 3m households, was cut from the national grid to prevent it from collapsing. Some businesses have bought generators and battery systems; others close during outages. In big cities, there is chaos at rush hour as traffic lights go dark. The blackouts suit copper-cable thieves, who can steal without fear of electrocution. And when the electricity is switched backed on, substations sometimes explode, resulting in secondary outages.
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2019/02/21/why-the-lights-keep-going-out-in-south-africa
[paywall: you can see the whole article in 'anonymous view' through startpage.com]
More on the situation:
https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/267263-south-africas-electricity-system-is-falling-apart-and-it-is-much-bigger-than-just-eskom.html
How to bring back the lights in South Africa?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday April 24 2019, @01:53PM
It seems we're getting a second lesson from the same region of the world about the importance of rules, work ethic, and teamwork. Zimbabwe/Rhodesia had been the breadbasket of southern Africa. Then Mugabe and his forces took over and opted for corruption, cronyism, and kleptocracy over an economic system guided by capitalism and rules. South Africa had been the powerhouse of Africa and its only nuclear power, and now it's sliding into this.
By rights Africa should be the global superpower, with its rich resources and proximity to other markets, but because its people remain divided by tribalism, petty localism, superstition, and banality it remains a target of exploitation by others. Material advantages and native genius can be defeated by malfunctioning politcs and regressive culture.
Washington DC delenda est.