Rolling blackouts an existential threat for the SMME sector
19 September 2022
Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Jan de Villiers MP.
As small business owners are having sleepless nights amidst a lackluster national economic recovery from the pandemic, Eskom delivered a deathblow to the sector when for the second time this year it announced Stage 6 load shedding.
This year has seen South Africa experiencing unprecedented levels of power cuts with no sign of an immediate end to the supply challenges faced by Eskom.
Meanwhile, the damage to the economy, particularly small enterprises has been immediate and enormous. Broad economic cost due to daily disruptions includes significant losses in production, investments, large scale de-industrialisation, greater unemployment and declining livelihoods. The country's unstable power supply further undermines the government's so-called plan of encouraging digital innovations among small and micro-entrepreneurs.