By Jordana Comiter

Medill Reports

Editor’s note: A portion of this story has been translated by Cebisile Mbonani.

On a Wednesday afternoon, Marvis Tshuna had 12 scones in the toaster oven. As they began taking shape, the aroma of butter and caramelized sugar filled the air. Then, the power cut off.

Natural light peeked through the few windows of Tshuna’s brick-wall, tin-roof home, located in Olievenhoutbosch, a town in Gauteng, South Africa. She didn’t flinch – she is used to sudden outages due to the ongoing nationwide energy crisis. But that doesn’t make it easier.

“I feel so bad that I am wasting so much,” Tshuna, 54, said as she prepared to discard the half-baked scones. “This happens almost every time I bake.”

Baked goods are Tshuna’s main income source. With no generator or certainty of when electricity would be restored (it typically takes three to four days in her area), she has recently had to throw out boxes worth of scone mix and has had little to sell.

The energy crisis began in 2007, and in 2008, Eskom, South Africa’s largest producer of electricity, introduced load shedding, an area-by-area, hour-by-hour distribution of electricity that means some areas are without power for a certain period of time. Eskom hopes this will prevent a collapse of the national power grid and releases a schedule of affected areas via its website and app daily. 

In February, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster surrounding the energy crisis. “Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures,” Ramaphosa said in his State of the Nation address. “The energy crisis is an existential threat to our economy and social fabric.” 

The average price of a generator in South Africa is 6,000 rand (roughly $330), and fuel prices vary. With nearly 18.2 million people in South Africa living below the poverty line as of 2022, many residents don’t have the luxury of a generator, further enlarging the socioeconomic gulf. 

According to the Borgen Project, South Africa’s 11.5% food insecurity rate is only slightly higher than the U.S.’s 10.2%, but the energy crisis has drastically increased food waste and deepened hunger nationwide. The struggle goes beyond the inability to heat dinner – it’s a trickle-down effect impacting health, economy and quality of life, beginning with the inability to maintain food supply chains.

Earlier this year, a video by poultry farmer Herman du Preez showing tens of thousands of dead chickens due to rolling blackouts that caused one of his chicken houses to shut down circulated the internet. Now, he is suing Eskom for over 2 million rand.

To properly breed, chickens require 16 hours of light per day in heat around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, according to poultry extension specialist Dr. Ken Koelkebeck. “A loss of power will damage the hatch,” Koelkebeck wrote via email. “Electricity is crucial to keep the lights in the breeder house on … and to run exhaust fans for proper air circulation.”

When this process is disrupted, farmers cannot deliver to stores and businesses. Limited stock has led to prices rising in an inflationary period, disproportionately impacting those living in poverty. 

Once items make it onto grocery shelves and into refrigerators, they are still at risk of being wasted. 

Kgothatso Shogole, a 33-year-old Kempton Park resident, once had to dump 6 liters of milk after losing electricity for four hours. He has since stopped purchasing some of his favorite perishable items. In addition to more time and money spent getting to the store, Shogole can no longer buy in bulk and spends more money on groceries.

“I am not OK with this,” Shogole said. “We look OK, but we are not OK.”

Businesses have had to make adjustments to stay afloat, too. 

Russell Grant, 37, owner of The Bioscope Independent Cinema, relies on concessions as the movie theater’s biggest source of revenue. Classic cinema snacks, like slushies and popcorn, require electricity, so Grant has to make them in advance or not at all. He has additionally purchased a gas oven to cook pizza more consistently.

Grant recognizes that to minimize profit loss, each day requires a plan. In February, participants of a conference next door prepaid to get coffee from the cinema prior to the conference. But, when Eskom released the load shedding schedule the night before, Grant discovered that wouldn’t be possible and had to send the business to a next-door coffee shop with a generator. 

“I would have loved to make that slice of profit, but I had to sacrifice it so that the event (would) continue without a hitch,” Grant said. 

To keep the cinema open, Grant had to adjust the menu. Since salad ingredients can stay cold for several hours past a power outage and don’t require heating or freezing, salad has been an effective addition.

Grant lives in Sandton, dubbed Africa’s “richest square mile,” with a generator. His life is minimally impacted when he leaves work. 

“I am one of the rare few who are privileged, but if we were experiencing load shedding at home, our personal relationship and our home life could have been dramatically affected,” Grant said.

Without the luxury of a generator, Abraham Chauke, a 45-year-old Soweto resident, found ways to adapt. Chauke uses ice blocks, which typically last two to three days, to keep food cold when the electricity goes out. When the area went without electricity for over six hours, the ice cubes effectively protected his perishables. 

“But not everybody can afford to have ice cubes every day … and you need a car to carry the ice cubes in a cooler to your home,” Chauke said. 

His expenses vary based on load shedding stages, but he typically spends around 160 rand, about $9, on ice. To allocate money for ice, he has given up data and streaming.

While some South Africans can afford to dispose and replace food, those with less resources turn to nonperishable alternatives like rice, beans and maize.

Nomsa Nkomo, a 34-year-old Olievenhoutbosch resident, is among those limited to nonperishables. She hasn’t had a working refrigerator for six months and cannot afford to get it repaired, so she cooks over an open fire in her front yard. Without a steady income to bring in food, she and her kids sometimes go to bed without eating. 

“I am very stressed and overthinking,” Nkomo said. “I am just trying to provide for my kids.”

Those who face longer outages are also at increased risk of catching foodborne illness. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, bacteria grow most rapidly in the 40-140 degrees Fahrenheit range, otherwise known as the danger zone. It takes just 20 minutes within this temperature range for harmful bacteria to double.

The problem with pathogenic bacteria, the kind that causes foodborne illness, is that it doesn’t always affect the taste, smell or appearance the way that spoilage bacteria does. Thus, a budget-strapped person might take the risk, rather than waste the food. 

“If the food is contaminated with pathogens, it’s not fit for human consumption,” said Lawrence Goodridge, professor of food safety at the University of Guelph in Canada. “It all comes back to food security because that’s less food to feed people.”

In 2022, South Africa experienced an unprecedented number of power cuts, making it harder than ever to prevent foodborne illnesses. 2023 is projected to be worse. 

Motsamai Motlhaolwa, 50-year-old head of communications of South Africa’s Gauteng Social Development Department, works with his team to spread public health information. They broadcast Gauteng’s Health Department messages via social media and attempt to reach those without access to media by hanging up posters at train stations, bus stops and malls. Unfortunately, it is difficult to reach everyone.

In Motlhaolwa’s eyes, Eskom’s poor management is the root of the energy crisis. But, with the hunt for a new Eskom CEO, he remains hopeful.

“The nation is trusting (them) to provide it with one of the key, most basic rights,” Motlhaolwa said. “No one working there must take that for granted.”

Ramaphosa’s state of disaster declaration included appointing a minister of electricity. 

“I am one of the optimists,” Motlhaolwa said. “I hope that he will come with a magic wand and give us electricity.” 

 

Jordana Comiter is a magazine graduate student at Medill. You can follow her on Twitter at @Jordanacomiter.