Power outages court poverty

MOGOMOTSI MOLOI
Correspondent | Friday February 8, 2008 00:00

A random survey reveals that some people depend heavily on electricity and they cannot cope without it. Some stated that everything in their houses uses electricity and without power nothing would be all right.

Others in crime-infested areas fear for their lives as their security is compromised because they believe criminals may pounce on them taking advantage of the darkness during a power cut. Even the security alarms do not work when there is no power.

The majority of people here use electricity for cooking, ironing, heating water, studying, security and even for entertainment.   

According to the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), the unplanned power outages will happen mostly at night and in the mornings when demand is high.

A seemingly worried Benjamin Moathodi in Tlokweng said some time last week he had to wait for electricity to come back for him to enter his rented yard because the gate is electrified.

'There was no one (at) home to open it manually from inside and I was stranded,' he said. He said he was forced to drive around until power came at around mid-night.

'It is really irritating. Our education is at stake. We cannot do our assignments on time because of outages. We have to type assignments and submit on time but this problem of power is working to our disadvantage,' lamented two University of Botswana (UB) students.

One of them, who only identified herself as Grace, said it is a serious problem for those studying computer-related courses.

She asked: 'Imagine what would happen during exam time? I wonder if this old university has a backup system to supply the whole compound with power'. She said the outages would lead to students failing courses because they do not have enough time to research from the Internet.  

She said she bought limited fruits and vegetables to put in the fridge because she fears that the food might rot due to continuous power cuts. She recalled that she was in a shop at the Main Mall late last month and suddenly the power went off.

It was around 7pm and the shop was closed because there was no generator. Grace went home empty handed because she was confused by the darkness. She lost time and transport money.

Last Tuesday, power went off and there was commotion from everybody there. People, especially women in the waiting room screamed in fear. People collided finding it difficult to run out.

Seamogano Gasebatho says the power outages will affect people's budgets. She said electronic appliances are blown by continuous outages. She knows of one man whose home theatre system blew up after a power cut.

She said if a person encounters such problem, no one helps. She was concerned that people who could not afford insurance would have to pay more money to repair their appliances.

Mmegi reported this week that there was no water in some parts of Tlokweng recently because the water pumps that are driven by electricity failed.

A combi driver on the Gabane-Gaborone route, Mothusi Jackson, condemned BPC saying the corporation is made of incompetent staff. 'How could they fail to respond to such a problem on time? I understand they have been warned about this but did nothing,' said an angry Jackson.

He said it is now unsafe to drive freely around the city because the traffic lights are all black. 'The BPC are just sitting there waiting for their pockets to get fat and go home,' he fired.

The power crisis issue raised its ugly head again at a meeting to discuss the budget speech by church leaders on Wednesday.

Pastor Owen Isaacs of the Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana said power outages are not only an economic problem but it affects every aspect of life. He stressed that more power outages would lead to more people getting impoverished.