READER LETTER | Load reduction is the new apartheid

Apartheid was a bad and cruel system. The UN referred to it as a crime against humanity. However, one of the good legacies of apartheid was the cheap electricity and effective running of Eskom.

Unfortunately, the democratic government has erased that by mismanaging Eskom, allowing executives to steal from the state company. Today electricity is very expensive, with Eskom bosses demanding more increases on tariffs.

For more than 10 years, the nation suffered from loadshedding, while Eskom changed senior managers all the time. This caused instability at the SOE, with dire consequences for the economy and public life as businesses closed, and jobs lost.

The country is still struggling to recover as many people remain unemployed and poor.

Last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as the electricity minister to deal with the energy crisis. Early this year, Eskom got yet another new CEO, and things have since improved as the country has not experienced loadshedding for most of the year.

That said, there is a new monster called load reduction, a limited supply of power to certain communities which goes with up to five-hour blackouts.  Eskom claims load reduction affects areas with illegal connections and don't buy electricity. That's a blue lie. I know of areas that don't buy electricity but have no load reduction.

My other concern is that there is no load reduction in the suburbs. It's only implemented in the black townships. That's segregation, and our democratic government is quiet about that.

I hope voters will respond to the government's silence when they vote in two years. Electricity is a basic necessity. We all deserve to have it – equally so.

Thabile Mange, Mogale City