As a freelancer who works from a home office, I have to say that the daily power cuts are playing havoc with the meeting of deadlines and so it goes without saying that it is affecting my bottom line. What are small SA business owners supposed to do?

Not only do they affect businesses, but shoppers too. The electricity went off in Hyde Park on Monday afternoon, trapping shoppers in lifts and preventing people paying for parking as they all tried to escape en masse when the lights went out.

We need to focus around the problem. Buy a generator!

I DON'T THINK SO! Do you have any idea as to what generators cost? Maybe that is an option for big companies but definitely not an "easy" option for small companies or freelancers working from home. I'm sure there must be a better solution, besides it does not help for traffic jams caused by faulty traffic lights and the fact that many people waste hours in their cars trying to get to meetings.

I could go and buy one right now but why should we? So much for democracy, we have a say so in absolutely nothing, we are just told, petrol up, we pay, bread up, we pay, medical rates up, we pay, power out - go buy a generator, and we do??? Hell no! We have a say so in nothing at all.

WTF are you on, how about we as south africans focus ON the problem. How long do we take this without repercussions, it's unacceptable END OF STORY.

I would like to know how the power outs are effecting the gautrain. We did not have this up till the train began.

People who are using pre-paid meters should not be cut off as we have already paid for the service in advance, Eskom has our money, uses it and then comes with the "we can't supply you".... then do not take the money. That then is a crime as you are taking money for something you know you cannot supply. The rest of us would be locked up for this. I do not care that Mbeki is to blame or government is to blame, why then do so many develoments continue all around in thousands of little box homes? If there is not enough then there is not enough, you cannot go to a store and buy one leg of a pants with the promise of the other one to come in 7 years. If we are to face this for 7 years cut off all new developments and force people to use existing service and revamp old places which have facilities in place. We are being fed excuses and not real reasons and more and more power id pulled off the grid daily for more and more hotels, townhouse development and clusters. This is just the beginning as soon enough all the pipes will burst as well and when we are all driving though sewerage they will also say we do not have enough to supply, not enough pipes, clean water, electricity. Why do we as RSA's take it lying down. Eskom is smart and we are stupid. Telkom is no better, they did the same thing to us until they were threatened with other service providers like smart villages and voip, 3G etc. These power outs may very well close the gap between the rich and the poor, as the rich will be poor but the poor will be desperate as the rich will be on the streets and the poor will be in the gutters as we as company owners are certinly already looking at staff cut backs. So I certinly hope that a labour exchange is also in the pipeline for the now to become unemployed. It is not rocket science.
Solar power to be put in place - just like the security industry, create crime in an area and then come in as the saviours. Cause blackouts and then offer a new product????? And we fall for it?

The load shedding going on in South Africa adversely affect the running of many businesses as they rely most on electricity. This consequently lead to the economic slowdown of the economic powerhouse of Africa (SA)

Jip, this was how Zim started ...
First the power cuts, no maintenance on roads, no petrol supply ... we are heading one way only ...