Across South Africa, the sudden onset of darkness is normal. From glitzy shopping centres to the small corner shops of the country’s impoverished townships, not to mention people’s homes, the dull groan of power supplies packing up has been etched into daily life. When Eskom, the country’s electricity agency, manages to provide uninterrupted electricity for more than a week, people become suspicious. Where, they ask, is all the power coming from?
Once the glittering economic capital, Johannesburg now has suburbs which spend days with unplanned electricity outages due to poorly maintained infrastructure. Water supplies can be equally erratic.
