Thousands Of Jobs Lost Through Loadshedding In SA

The intense load shedding that is taking place in South Africa is begining to show side effects on the economy of the country as most industries are cutting down on their employees which means thousands have lost and are set to lose their jobs. The unemployment rate in South Africa continues to surge due to intense loadshedding that is taking place. Although it moved back to stage 6 from stage 8 the repercussions are starting to show in the economy. Local industries are beginning to off-load workers as a result of loadshedding which ESCOM (Electricity Supply Commission) and Municipalities are blaming each other for. ESCOM management has given an excuse that some areas fall under the jurisdiction of Municipalities according to Media reports. However in a snap survey taken by The Gaze loadshedding has proved to increase the unemployment tally rate. "I work at a local bakery but, it's now long before they called me for duty because loadshedding has been a problem. Electricity normally goes in the middle of baking,..." said a local resident in Kensington, Cape Town who preferred anonymity. The construction industry has not been spared as it highly demands electricity. Even though there are substitution electrical supply units like generators and solar power system, they are quite expensive when it comes to a large industrial heavy duty scale demand. More over, thieves have seen loadshedding as a reprieve to steal electrical cables which are hard to replace.