Load-shedding not ideal for hosting large tournaments
There’s so much to be depressed about in our country at the moment that I actually don’t know where to start. It is 10 o’clock on Monday night as I write this column. It is pouring outside as I try to find the right words to communicate the anger I’m feeling without using language that would embarrass a sailor.
The rain has been pelting my bedroom window relentlessly for hours now. While it comes as a welcome relief for the city’s water reserves that were said to be in danger of shrinking a few weeks ago, I cannot help thinking about the many lives that have been negatively affected by incessant flooding of the past couple of days.
I’m writing this on my phone because those bright sparks, no pun intended, that have been tasked with running Eskom have plunged my neighbourhood and many others around the country into darkness.
I am hoping that the 40% battery power I have remaining on this device is enough to translate my thoughts into words.
Eskom has just plunged the country into something called stage 6, but few people actually know what the hell that means.
Stage 6 sounds like something out of the arcade games we played many moons ago as kids, but none of the people I asked for clarity had a definitive explanation.
The only thing we know for sure is that we are in the dark for the second night running, and we are not impressed with the government, we are not impressed with President Cyril Ramaphosa, and we are certainly not impressed with our power utility.
Eskom later dialled things down to stage 4, but try telling that to the many South Africans who are scared and worried about the future of their children.
To think the day had begun with so much promise when we all celebrated Zozibini Tunzi’s crowning as the new Miss Universe in the early hours of Monday morning.
Tunzi became the third South African to win the Miss Universe crown after Margaret Gardiner in 1978 and DemiLeigh Nel-Peters in 2017.
Many around the world celebrated her, with some saying she has forever changed the beauty pageant game.
But the wet blankets at Eskom were not to be denied. As they have done on so many occasions in the past, they managed to dampen the mood in spectacular fashion later in the day and violently shook us back to the realities of their incompetence.
They are playing Russian roulette with our economy, and the experts say we are almost certainly headed for a recession.
The memories of Siya Kolisi hoisting the William Webb Ellis trophy are starting to recede into the distance as we grapple with the many challenges we face in this country.
As I write this, Loftus Versfeld Stadium cannot guarantee that the Mamelodi Sundowns league match against Stellenbosch FC will not be plunged into darkness tonight.
WOMEN'S WORLD CUP
They are crossing their fingers that the lights stay on long enough for the match to be played to its conclusion. What a mess.
It’s just as well that the SA Football Association (Safa) has finally pulled the plug on bidding for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
The decision was reached at Safa’s annual general meeting at the Sandton Convention Centre on Sunday. Interim CEO Gay Mokoena said it wanted to focus on improving the women’s game before bidding for another international tournament.
Where would the money for the tournament have come from when the SA economy is on life support and comatose, sharing the ICU ward with Eskom, SAA, Prasa and so many others?
That hospital room reeks of death. The millions that would have been required to massage Fifa’s ego for a few weeks are just not available.
We are certainly not in the mood to entertain out-of-town guests at this time when Ramaphosa is actually out there on his knees with a begging bowl.
Someone in the office said yesterday that they have now had enough and they just want 2019 to end already.
I didn’t have the stomach to tell them that 2020 is just a number, and I doubt very much that this nightmare will come to an end magically at midnight on January 1.