Botswana: Power Cuts Plunge Business Into Turmoil

The business community in Gaborone has expressed grave concern that they will lose millions of Pula during the expected power shortage that has already manifested itself in frequent outages.

Since January 16 some parts of the country has experienced unexpected power blackouts. This is because Botswana’s major power supplier, Eskom, of South Africa, has decided to cut the outside supply to meet local demand.
This latest development has not gone down well with the business community here who fear that the problem will impact negatively on their businesses. Pay Less Supermarket manager at Madirelo mall Edwin Motlhabane said though the complex has a backup generator, repeated outages would result in extra costs. They have to buy fuel to run the backup system. “We used to have a generator connected to tills only but we have since connected it to fridges, slicing machines, ovens and big cold rooms,” he said. But he pointed out that these big appliances require more electricity.

He lamented that fuel is very expensive these days and more money would be lost. He asserted that the outage is an inconvenience to the customers. Motlhabane said his business is not going to meet the demand because they will have to reduce the supply of perishables. Balaji Kuppan, of Spar Supermarket in the Gaborone main mall, was candid, saying “we can’t do anything without electricity”.

“If there is no power we lose everything,” he said. Unlike at Pay Less, main mall Spar does not have a generator and Kuppan fears the worst as they stand to incur huge losses during such power interruptions. He challenged the government to speed up plans to have a small plant that produces electricity, while long-term projects are under way.

Outlets like KFC, Chicken Licken, butcheries and bakeries, where electricity is heavily used, will be among the hardest hit. A manager at one of the KFC outlets, who preferred not to be named, is worried that they have lost much business since the problem started.

AllAfrica