Business Times writes that the unprecedented load-shedding of the past week is crippling businesses and putting workers' incomes at risk, particularly those at small firms battling to stay open.
Gerhard Papenfus, CEO of the National Employers' Association of SA (Neasa), which has 8,000 members, said the effect of load-shedding on his members was devastating. “The damage to the economy is anything between R2bn and R4bn a day. There is not a single business that is not extremely affected by this. This is terrible for the economy, this is very bad,” he lamented. Papenfus said employers were usually able to continue paying salaries despite load-shedding but some would reach a point where they could not do so any longer. “During load-shedding your people stand and your machines are idle. You can only accommodate that to a certain extent. Each business will decide for itself ... at what point salaries will be cut and people are not paid for the time they don't work,” Papenfus pointed out. According to a recent survey by business chamber Sakeliga, which represents 12,000 mostly small businesses with an average of 10 employees, in the three months of relatively moderate power cuts before the latest stage 4 to stage 6 blackouts began, they were losing on average R25,000 a month because of load-shedding. Sakeliga’s Piet le Roux indicated: “Many of these businesses are near break-even point. The more marginal are being driven into loss-making positions because losing 5% of your turnover is where you'd be making your profit.” Business Unity SA (Busa) said “the economic damage is severe and there must be an immediate intervention to at least manage load-shedding better”. Busa wants a short-term plan to urgently bolster Eskom's ability to buy power from all available resources and step up repairs to plants, and is pushing for the power utility to fill vacancies on its board with the right skills.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dineo Faku at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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