“Struggling to breathe” read the headline on the front page of our sister publication Weekend Post on Saturday.
The report detailed the struggle of a Gqeberha woman on an oxygen tank who was forced to sleep at the Motherwell police station due to the unexpected prolonged power cuts in her area.
Phathiswa Lunguza rushed to the police station because there was no electricity to power her oxygen machine at her home.
Thankfully, she made it on time and the next morning was taken to hospital in an ambulance for further treatment.
Civil rights group AfriForum has stepped in, confirming it will donate an inverter and battery pack to Lunguza to ensure she is still able to breathe when there are unexpected power cuts.
Though there is some light at the end of the tunnel for Lunguza, there are many others whose lives are on the line every time the power goes off.
A three-year-old girl died on the way to hospital in Johannesburg last month after a viral infection caused her to have difficulty breathing.
The family had relied on a plugged-in concentrator machine to assist with Neyamiah Eaton’s breathing, but because it did not work during load-shedding, they would use a backup oxygen cylinder.
As load-shedding became more frequent, with a planned maintenance shutdown they were unaware of, they quickly ran out of oxygen for the cylinder — and on their way to hospital the little girl died.
People with severe sleep apnoea reply on a machine to keep them breathing while asleep.
The load-shedding has forced them to find alternative power supplies to ensure they keep breathing for the duration of load-shedding, and those who cannot afford alternatives are at risk of severe health problems, or worse, death.
The continuous power cuts, scheduled or unplanned, are squeezing the life out of the already cash-strapped consumer.
They are becoming a matter of life or death.
Eskom, or even municipalities, could have a mass class action lawsuit on their hands if more people die as a result of the rolling blackouts.
An urgent solution is needed to resolve this crisis before more businesses are closed, more jobs are lost, more families starve, and more lives are lost.
HeraldLIVE