Load shedding leaves students in the dark

The wave of load shedding since the beginning of 2020 has had a serious impact on students. Many struggled to keep up with their academic workload, due to the frequent blackouts, which are said to continue for the next 10 to 18 months.

Rodney Livhalani, a BA Communication student at North-West University (NWU), said the recurring power outages has had a negative impact on his studies.

“It is unpredictable and difficult to prepare for when it happens. What is worse, is the fact that it happens at night during peak hours when we are trying to read and prepare for the next morning,” Livhalani said.

Livhalani is not the only student whose studies are affected by the recurring outages. Dineo Mothapo, a third-year BEd student at the NWU, said she uses electronic devices to study. “When electricity is not available, it means that I cannot continue. This causes me to miss my deadlines and sometimes I end up not completing my tasks because I cannot work in the dark,” Mothapo said.

Although students at NWU are badly affected by load shedding, it is not all doom and gloom as the university has emergency power. 

According to Hendrik Esterhuizen, Director of Maintenance and Facilities, the emergency power is switched on within minutes after load shedding strikes. “It is always ready, and we make sure that it switches on as soon as possible so that the institution can continue with its operations.”

Esterhuizen, however emphasized that emergency power comes at a very high cost to the university. “During load shedding, we spend more than R1 000 per minute to keep the lights on – this includes all our three campuses,” he said. 

Esterhuizen also mentioned how challenging it is to keep the grid running through the entire campus, as the university cannot distribute the same amount of power Eskom supplies. This then leads to some parts of campus not receiving the emergency power supply.

Livhalani expressed his gratitude towards the university for having this system in place. “Sometimes we are left behind with our work, but when emergency power switches on, we are able to quickly catch up,” he added joyfully.

President Cyril Ramaphose said during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week that load shedding is unavoidable.  However, he emphasised that it must be undertaken in a manner that is “predictable and minimises disruption and cost to firms and households”.

Ramaphosa said: “Over the next few months, as Eskom works to restore its operational capabilities, the government will be implementing measures that will fundamentally change the trajectory of energy generation in our country.” This means that while Ramaphosa battles to fix the power utility, students are still going to have to find ways to study in the dark.