The energy mess is the new pandemic, we need clear information to navigate our way through it

South Africa’s energy crisis is as much a battle of lexicons as it is of ideas. The language is complex and loaded: is it a just transition or an unjust transition? Should we talk about load shedding or blackouts? What’s a base load? How many geysers need to be switched off to save a suburb from a blackout?

The people behind Covid Comms – which was described by The Citizen’s media editor Brendan Seery as “one of the most professional public health campaigns during the pandemic” – have entered this space, with a new mission: to cut through all the jargon and tell the energy crisis story (and the energy solution story) as it is.

Energy Comms has done so with the intention to demystify the energy crisis and provide non-partisan information – primarily explainers and an easy-to-understand guide to the Energy Action Plan (EAP) which guides energy interventions by government, Eskom and other players (or “stakeholders”, to use the lingo).

The enormity of the task shouldn’t be underestimated.

Focus groups

Using our group of community facilitators, who during Covid were spreading the vaccine message and are now spreading the energy crisis/solution message, we have conducted focus groups in nine KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng communities in the past few weeks to get a sense of what people know about the energy crisis, and what they would like to know about both the crisis and the potential solutions.

The findings help define the level of understanding and concern and leave no doubt that much more relevant communication – and action, of course – is needed to ensure that emotions don’t spill over.

One of the first issues we raised in the communities we engaged with was to assess people’s knowledge of the crisis, and the responses were direct: mismanagement and corruption at Eskom were top of mind, followed by people not paying for electricity and “bridging” or “breaching” (people illegally connecting to electricity supplies).

One community saw the energy crisis as both a cause and effect of corruption – saying Eskom and the state (and others) were using the electricity shortage as an opportunity to advance corruption. As one participant put it, “load shedding is now being used as an excuse for eating people’s money.” Or, in the words of another participant, “the budget is there, but people in high positions take the money for themselves.”

What came through very clearly was the devastating impact of the energy crisis on people’s lives. Children are unable to study or prepare for school and parents and caregivers are unable to prepare proper meals – forcing children to rely on fast food or sugar water.

Appliances such as TVs and fridges are being damaged by constant power cuts, criminals use power cuts to carry out crime and there is now “looting at homes, not in shops”.

Elderly people feel more at risk of muggings and home invasions, and cable thieves – partly responsible for some of the power cuts in the first place – “give criminals a chance to cut more cables”.

Household economies

The energy crisis is also hitting household economies.

Participants spoke about how young people were earning less in part-time jobs because they were working fewer hours (because of power cuts) or even losing their jobs completely. Small businesses are also being affected:

“I have a poultry business at my home. I bought 60 chickens the other day, then the electricity was switched off in the evening. When I woke up the next morning, 30 of them were dead because there was no electricity.”

Another: “I sell scones and fat cakes. I need to get up early in the morning so they are ready by the time people go to work. But I can’t because of load shedding.”

Essential services

Many participants pointed out how power cuts cripple essential services such as clinics, hospitals and social services.

“Local clinics close during load shedding, and on top of that we have a water crisis,” said one participant.

Another said, “If someone is sick and you phone the hospital, they tell you nothing works.”

Another: “I have somebody in the family who uses an oxygen tank. But because there is no electricity, she is suffering.”

Another: “When there is load shedding, there isn’t enough electricity to power all the machines at the hospital. One might even end up dead because of load shedding as the machine doesn’t work and the generator isn’t powerful enough to run all the machines.”

‘Load shedding’

Eskom and the government’s explanations for the power cuts were not well received by participants in the focus groups – even down to the use of the phrase “load shedding”.

One participant retorted, “They wanted a name that will sound nice because if they call it power cuts it will anger people when electricity switches off all the time. And they know how black people operate – we will take to the streets to demand answers.”

From another focus group: “They call it load shedding because it sounds fancy. If they call it power cuts we will take to the streets and burn tyres.”

Some participants revealed that they had already in fact tried to take it to the streets.

“We have tried to protest, barricaded streets and burnt buses,” one said.

Another: “We should go to Eskom and burn buses in front of their offices. We should burn tyres at their entrance so they can feel what we are feeling.”

Mental impact

One of the issues Energy Comms was particularly keen to poll was the mental impact of the energy crisis – and the response was disturbing.

“I am not coping. When there is no electricity, people in kasi become anxious, asking themselves when it will come back. I am not coping – when there is no electricity, the mind does not function. It’s emotional and it has damaged me,” said one participant.

Another: “We go mad [when there is no electricity for a long time]. We can’t cope. If we can’t cope for 30 minutes, seven days is too much.”

Another: “What stresses us most is the kids. When you have kids who are studying, and the parent is not working, there is no income and you are just waiting for the grant money. You don’t have money for paraffin or candles. What will you do with the child in the morning?”

Solutions

And what about solutions to the crisis? The communities we interacted with were clear about what they would like the political leadership to focus on:

• Government should assist households by, for example, providing solar panels or subsidising them;


• Government must “fix” Eskom – although there is doubt about government’s ability to do so, and mistrust of government’s motives. As one participant put it: “We will have to be able to hold the government accountable, so that it fixes Eskom”;


• Eskom should invest in the maintenance of existing power stations. “Eskom should hire people who are competent… and stop stealing money for their pockets”; and


• New energy players/power stations need to come online as soon as possible.

The road to energy security is a long one, and – as was the case with Covid – Energy Comms will be working in the space for as long as it’s needed.

Communication won’t solve the energy crisis; that will require bold action, a ton of money, the right decision-making and bold leadership – and an end to rent-seeking, whether in existing energy sources or in new ones.

But non-partisan communication – particularly in plain language and mother tongues – can certainly provide explanations and give a sense of understanding and hope at a time when the societal temperature is rising faster than the global temperature.

Energy Comms will be going back to these communities in a few months to see if perceptions and conditions have changed, and be testing some of our explainer videos and other content to see if the understanding of the problem and the belief in solutions increases.

Hopefully, by then, there’ll have been an even greater focus on the “A” in the EAP and we will also have some solid progress to report. DM

Chris Vick is chairperson of Mobilize, which launched the Energy Comms campaign earlier this year. For more information head to www.energycomms.co.za