The deteriorating and dilapidated electrical infrastructure in Komani – formerly known as Queenstown – has virtually crippled the Eastern Cape town’s businesses.

The town, under the Enoch Mgijima local municipality, has suffered from electricity outages for years, but things worsened in 2022 and some areas spent weeks and even months without power.

Parts of Mlungisi location have been without power for close to two months. On Monday morning, the whole of Mlungisi location was without power. Some areas had their electricity briefly restored on Tuesday, but by Thursday most of the central business district and much of Komani had no power.

On Thursday this week residents took to the streets to protest over the blackouts which have left them without power for days on end. Last week Daily Maverick spoke to business owners and residents on the effect of these lengthy cuts on their lives.

Read in Daily Maverick: “There is nothing charming about candlelit dinners in my town in the Eastern Cape, where blackouts last for weeks”

Local entrepreneurs complain that the continued outages – combined with Eskom’s rolling blackouts – are killing their businesses and costing them a lot of money.

Anthony Marriott from Superclean Detergents said he might as well close his business because of the amount of money he’s spending on diesel.

“Business is operating in a difficult situation in Komani, and for me it is difficult to increase prices because my competition in East London has no electricity problems like me. So increasing prices will lead customers to rather buy from my competitor,” he said.

Generators supply power to Komani shops. (Photo: Tembile Sgqolana)

Parents and teachers of St Theresa Primary School protest outside the Enoch Mgijima municipality technical services department. (Photo: Tembile Sgqolana)

“I use generators 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I also have an ice business and… I have to come to work half an hour before load shedding to start the machines and also be here to stop the machines.”

Marriott said that sometimes when Eskom’s power comes back on, the local outages kick in, and if he is not there to monitor the machines, his ice gets ruined. 

“The ice business is extremely costly to me as I am using 150 litres of diesel a day to run the generator for 18 hours. I don’t have any faith in the current leadership because of the current electrical situation and service delivery.”

Marriott said he has chosen not to retrench anybody at the moment, but that management had taken a pay cut.

“We have also stopped paying bonuses… we are safeguarding our employees’ positions. Since the start of the outages and the load shedding, I have not taken a day off – I work day and night to keep the business running. One of my machines broke down last year because of the outages,” he said.

Marriott said he spends R3,900 on diesel a day, R27,300 per week and R114,660 every month.

“This money could have been used to fix vehicles, machines and pay staff salaries and bonuses.

“I am doing this business just to survive. We are also thinking of going for solar panels, but I don’t know how I will survive at night as there will be no sunlight. I don’t know what I will do when the diesel price goes up,” he said.

Marriott said some of his staff had spent months without electricity.

One of Komani’s Spar owners, who asked not to be named fearing victimisation by politicians, said his business had used close to R2-million in diesel in 2022.

Rouche House in Komani has been without electricity since Monday morning. (Photo: Tembile Sgqolana)

“The situation seems to be getting worse, as we are using a generator a lot. We spend between R15,000 and R20,000 a day during Stage 6 load shedding. With all these outages, the situation is becoming scary for employees – but my objective is to keep my staff.

“I have 138 staff members who also have families that depend on them. I am not even thinking about profits… it is all about keeping the people in their jobs and not retrenching anyone,” said the owner.

He said if power is not being cut through rolling blackouts, it is lost through cable faults.

Roche House guesthouse and coffee shop owner, Michelle Loest, said they have been operating with two generators and using a third for their borehole.

“We have lost food in our freezers… although it is too small an amount to claim from insurance, it is still costing us a lot,” she said.

Loest said they spend R2,400 on fuel on a normal day, and have decided to limit their bookings. 

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations

“Electricity outages in Komani are deterring people from coming to Komani… some have even cancelled their bookings because of the risk of having no Wi-Fi or a poor Wi-Fi signal,” she said.

Loest said they closed their coffee shop on Tuesday at 3pm to save fuel.

“We have managed to save the jobs… we had one staff member who resigned but we can’t afford to replace her.”

She said that when the power is out, their water supply is also affected.

“We have been without electricity since Monday and we have been using the generators to run the place since then. We reported this to the municipality, but nothing is being done to solve the problem.”

Read in Daily Maverick: “Gatvol citizens threaten Eskom and government with legal action, demand stop to rolling blackouts”

Loest said they struggle with phone calls and are missing out on bookings.

“The guesthouse has 11 rooms, and to save the money we use on fuel, we had to cut the number of rooms in half… so now only six rooms are in use,” she said, adding that they were thinking of installing solar panels to help save the business.

Local engineer André Sieberhagen said that for residents to keep the basics going, a solar system with a battery should last for the two to four-hour periods of rolling blackouts.

The ice business has become extremely costly owing to the price of diesel. (Photo: Tembile Sgqolana)

“If you have panels, the ability to maintain daytime usage is sustained. It is a worthwhile investment, especially in Komani where there is unreliable power supply. 

“I am pro-solar and it is the way to go,” he said.

Sieberhagen said it’s a more difficult scenario when it comes to businesses because heavier equipment is needed.

“You will need to have a fairly substantial investment in terms of battery capacity, inverters capacity, to make it work… most businesses don’t have those things, they still rely on generators. That is where the problem lies.”

Darryl Westran, owner of The Repair Centre, said his appliance repair business is heavily reliant on electricity.

“With the electricity situation in Komani, I can’t do my job. I can’t do callouts to do onsite repairs and as a result I had to buy a generator that costs me R600 to R700 a day to run… far higher than what I would have paid the municipality for electricity,” he said.

“I can’t provide the turnaround service that is required in order to keep the standard terms and conditions with regard to the repair turnaround times on products that need to be repaired,” he said.

School forced to close

As schools opened in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday, pupils were turned away from St Theresa’s Primary School which has been without electricity since October last year.

Parents, teachers and the communities of Victoria Park and Aloevale protested outside the Enoch Mgijima municipality’s technical service department, demanding power be restored to the school.

The protesters barricaded the department’s gates with branches and rocks, while a representative from the school met with executive mayor Madoda Papiyana at the municipal offices.

Teachers who did not want to be named said they had struggled to prepare for exams, make copies of exam papers and print reports without power.

“We had to ask one of the school’s neighbours to lend us their printer to print question papers and reports. Now we are struggling to continue with registration and continue with teaching and learning,” one teacher said.

One parent, Veronica Van Ross, said they had decided to stop the children from coming to school until the power was restored.

Traffic lights have not worked in the Komani CBD since Monday morning. (Photo: Tembile Sgqolana)

“The department is aware of the problem but they have done nothing,” she said.

Another parent, Charlene Booysen, said the municipality had failed St Theresa’s.

“My children could not go to school because I have no electricity at home and there is no electricity at school. The school has been without electricity since October,” she said. Another parent, Eva Lentoor, said all the schools in the Mlungisi location were without electricity.

“The community is fed up with these useless councillors who are getting paid for doing nothing. They are all getting paid for being stupid,” she said.

Enoch Mgijima municipality spokesperson, Lonwabo Kowa, said a contractor for Mlungisi substation was appointed on Tuesday and was waiting for the arrival of necessary material.

On the issue of St Theresa’s, Kowa said the school’s power supply was affected by a cable that blew due to underground water and vandalism.

“The municipality is now waiting for repair material to be delivered.” 

Eastern Cape education department spokesperson, Malibongwe Mtima, said the department’s Chris Hani West district director was consulting on the situation and would give an update after receiving all of the information. DM/OBP