The rant that started the evolution of CityPowerless

OK. First I am going to rant. I am going to rant bitter bile. Then we can talk.

The sheer incompetence is driving me insane!

Let’s forget for a moment the poor performance and capacity planning of Eskom. We all know about that, and it has been harped on ad nauseam. Leave it aside for a bit.

I also get the arguments of disproportionate salaries and influence by corrupt politicians and other bad apples. And the arguments about how much it costs the country, and how it affects businesses, especially small businesses.

And for those with sympathy for the pathetic state of our public services, defending them with statements like “You can’t provide _____ if there aren’t any _____ to provide!” I get it. I really do, leave alone WHY there aren’t any _____ to provide.

What I do NOTTTTT get is the sheer incompetence. They can’t even implement loadsh*tting right. We were supposed to go off around an hour ago, and we are not.

I can hear you ask: “Why the heck is he complaining? He’s got electricity when he was not supposed to have it!”

I am complaining because: Not only are we held hostage because they did not get their full tariff hike, for a service we are paying premium rates for, but we are even taken hostage for our TIME! We plan our schedules around this incompetence, in order to have some sort of normalcy in the chaos that should never have been present in the first place. We do our best to survive and navigate through or around this.

We plan the feeding of our families. Our work hours, our sleep hours, and our entertainment, when we go to gym and when we bath or shower. In fact, our entire schedules revolve around this incompetence. If they do NOT stick to the planning, they are now AGAIN throwing our planning down the drain, once again showing how little they care for the people who pay their exorbitant salaries.

We plan to go to the park and have a picnic when the lights are out. We order take-out when we won’t be able to cook. We try to entertain our kids in the dark. Then loadsh*tting does NOT happen when it should, and DOES when it shouldn’t.

When will this stop?

Rant over.

Now I need some advice on how to get off the grid. Not only for me, but for Joe Public in general. I am sure if we work together, we can work out a plan to make this kind of solution more realistic and accessible. I will open up a public forum where people of influence and means can discuss and get involved. Inbox me if you are interested in joining this initiative. Please note: this will not be a complaining group but a solutions group. We will have a complaining group too, but right now, the solutions thinking should take priority.