Why is South Africa collapsing?

South Africa once had the most abundant and cheap electricity on the continent. Now, it is experiencing power blackouts. It’s called loadshedding, the process by which the power company Eskom occasionally reduces the demand for electricity on the national grid.

For many South Africans this means no electricity for up to ten hours a day, almost every day. The result is disruption to everyday life, impacting on work, education, sanitation, food and heating.

In 1994 Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress party promised a better life for all South Africans. So why is South Africa’s infrastructure crumbling?

Contributors:
Duma Qgubule, economist and journalist
Thomas Mnguni, campaigner with Groundwork
Anton Eberhard, professor at the Power Futures Lab at the University of Cape Town
Lungile Mashele, energy economist

Presented by Audrey Brown
Produced by Louise Clarke
Researched by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty
Edited by Tara McDermott and Tom Bigwood
Technical producer Kelly Young
Production co-ordinator Brenda Brown

(Dressmaker Faieza Caswell sews under candlelight at her workplace in Cape Flats, South Africa. Credit: Esa Alexander/Reuters)