I'm From South Africa And We Are Facing An Imminent National Power Grid Full Shutdown...

At least you've taken some precautions and stockpiled important items in case there is a power failure. It is nice to know even in times of trial and tribulation that you still thought of your ATS family and made a thread to reach out to us. It means a lot to know we aren't just a bunch of random people behind computer screens - we're all searching for knowledge and can be supportive of each other, even if we cannot physically aid in such struggles.

I will keep you in my prayers and thoughts in the days and weeks to come. If you get a chance please send updates so we have an idea of what things are looking like in South Africa. Wishing you the very best my friend. FamCore

a reply to: HD3DSURROUNDSOUND

Shaka Must be turning in his grave, Out of all the nations you would think Zulu's could live without electricity.

originally posted by: HD3DSURROUNDSOUND
a reply to: Asktheanimals

Hi bud, sorry I had to laugh. #1 yes the indiginous people have the government now. #2 yes max profit for min maintenance but white squatter camps? No bud, no white squatter camps. The only indiginous who's lives got better when they won the election were those in the government. No 'whites were put out on the street'.
.

The SA government denies the same thing so it's not surprising you might not know the plight of some of your own country men. Affirmative action hiring resulted in many thousands losing their livelihoods and yes, there are white squatter camps::

a reply to: NthOther

You realize that the government in South Africa has been run by the descendents of the indigenous population since the days of Mandela? So basically, if they couldn't run the country in such a way as to both bring their fellows out of oppression and keep up the infrastructure ... who is really to blame for this?

a reply to: Shiloh7

This is the same sort of thing that led for years to New Orleans levees not being repaired properly or upgraded. It was a political plum post to be appointed to one of the levee boards and a lot of those people mysteriously got rich.

a reply to: HD3DSURROUNDSOUND

That sucks man....make sure you prep up a bit...and Im glad at the moment South Africa doesn't have nukes any more!

originally posted by: NthOther
Industrial infrastructure collapses, oppressed indigenous population reclaims the country.

I dunno, I don't really see a problem with that. It waxes justice poetic, even. The fact that revolution is a real possibility as a result of technological failure speaks volumes about the power (no pun intended) structures at work not only in the subjugation of the indigenous population, but also in the unhealthy dependence on technology in the western world.

? The "indigenous population" is in charge of SA and has been for years.

Unhealthy dependence on technology by the western world....from the man posting on an internet forum. Amazing. reply to: NthOther

If people can't go two weeks without power without anarchy breaking out the country has more issues than a failing infrastructure. We've had counties out for months after big hurricanes. Isabel took out power three states wide and some rural areas waited a long time for repairs.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
If people can't go two weeks without power without anarchy breaking out the country has more issues than a failing infrastructure. We've had counties out for months after big hurricanes. Isabel took out power three states wide and some rural areas waited a long time for repairs.

Oh, it does.

People on this thread who live there have every reason to be very, very afraid.

It's not politically correct to speak of, but South Africa is a very bad place to be if you aren't the right kind of person. It is hardly like this:



or this:

Also a south african here.

Biggest threat is election time next year where the ANC will push the grid to its limits no matter what.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
If people can't go two weeks without power without anarchy breaking out the country has more issues than a failing infrastructure. We've had counties out for months after big hurricanes. Isabel took out power three states wide and some rural areas waited a long time for repairs.

the difference is that if an american counties enery is crushed then another state can give power to bring it back online. If south africas grid collapses there is no other country in africa with the capacity to bring it back online. Eskom says two weeks... But they are secretitve how they will bring it back up... So it is two weeks minimum. And even if you can bring power back up to small communities the i dustry will suffer and a lot of people will be out of work where they are supporting more than one family... Its not the same as where you are.

originally posted by: NthOther
Industrial infrastructure collapses, oppressed indigenous population reclaims the country.

I dunno, I don't really see a problem with that. It waxes justice poetic, even. The fact that revolution is a real possibility as a result of technological failure speaks volumes about the power (no pun intended) structures at work not only in the subjugation of the indigenous population, but also in the unhealthy dependence on technology in the western world.

what a load of toss. People often revolt because they are often lead by a small mirority with nefarious means... Where is the justice in libya? Where is the justice in egypt? Where is the justice in sudan? Syria? How you got starred is beyond me.

a reply to: kykweer

When thousands of trees need to be cleared and thousands of miles of wire needs to be strung no amount of loaner power is going to help.
Isabel struck hard after a very wet summer. Trees fell like dominoes. North Carolina Virginia and Delaware and part of Maryland were without power. We could see the milkey way at night it was so dark.
Some people I know had electric pumps on wells so they were without electricity and water.
I understand its different there but still 14 days? It's nothing. But civil war will break out?

a reply to: NthOther

You think they'll live in peace after having wiped out all the white people?

It'll be a Mad Max scenario and the nation will immediately become a failed state torn by civil war.

Let's slaughter some white people, who cares? They're all oppressors anyway. Right?
So familiar this meme, where have I heard this before?
This customary white hate and the barely concealed gloating, it's distasteful and it's getting old very fast.

I bet if I told you I'd be glad if the black people of South Africa wiped themselves out because of their criminality and baseness you'd be crying racist from the rooftops like a good little parrot.

Fortunately I have some sense and some tact so you won't be hearing that from me but I hope I have demonstrated in some small way that there's an insidious double standard at play that always seems to rear its ugly head in discussions such as these.


/

South Africa is a BRICS country. The elite have been going after a list of countries one after the other, if this happens maybe it's part of a larger effort in targeting Russia, China and their allies, and to also gather valuable data as the OP suggested.

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

It could be used as an excuse. It's all they need.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: kykweer

When thousands of trees need to be cleared and thousands of miles of wire needs to be strung no amount of loaner power is going to help.
Isabel struck hard after a very wet summer. Trees fell like dominoes. North Carolina Virginia and Delaware and part of Maryland were without power. We could see the milkey way at night it was so dark.
Some people I know had electric pumps on wells so they were without electricity and water.
I understand its different there but still 14 days? It's nothing. But civil war will break out?

Comparing an incident where power to critical infrastructure was down for 48 hours or less to one where critical infrastructure could be down for 2 weeks is laughable.

originally posted by: hutch622
a reply to: HD3DSURROUNDSOUND

So your power is supplied by a public utility . Normally these type of problems surface when power supply is privatised .If everything is automated as it should be then the grid wont shut down as such . Infrastructure wont or should not break from overloading . Circuit breakers should open then the power is put back on in stages . To avoid power shedding try living next to a member of parliament or whatever they are called there . Oddly their power never seems to get cut .

Now having another look at their excuse for losing the whole grid the question i would be asking is how can they possibly lose a power station . If the system is that bad management heads need to roll .

There are actually a surprising number of things that can cause a station, or part of a grid to become unstable. It's not just about providing the correct voltage across the grid, the voltage angle (think polar coordinates) has to be consistent across an entire country. The constant, sub-second adjustments which go in to allowing this to work are impressive to say the least.

I actually work for a company which develops software employed around the globe to various energy companies, and it's given me a great insight in to how power systems work.

You're right that breakers can go, which should help in certain emergency situations, but there are things we can't even measure properly, especially poor Eskom with their pretty archaic infrastructure - as soon as a part of the grid is operating at a substantially diferent voltage angle, that setion is considered to be islanded. It then needs to adjust to re-integrate back in to the main grid. This takes time on old very large grids and when it rejoins, it takes more time for the system to settle.

Sorry I'm waffling. I feel bad for Eskom though. It's a government run department that's been over-looked for far too long and now they're paying the price. It's not going to be a quick fix either, I think we'll be hearing about this for a while to come.

a reply to: NavyDoc
Quite correct, the African National Congress (ANC) has been in power since 1994.

Of course, who is truly "indigenous" remains a matter of debate.

Going back to prehistory, the indigenous people are the Khoisan (the terms "Bushmen" for hunter-gatherers and "Hottentots" for herders are now often considered slurs).
Under apartheid they were often considered "colored" or "brown" people, although their genes can be found to an extent in both the black and white population groups.
The agricultural black tribes apparently only moved into South Africa (mainly the fertile east coast) around the 9th century, although estimates vary.

The ANC was not a movement that at first promised a return to traditional ways or lifestyles.
It despised tribalism, although tribalism is very much an unspoken feature of current ANC politics (the significant leaders have been mainly from clans of the linguistically related Zulu and Xhosa tribes).
In fact, apartheid was often seen as trying to develop black people too slowly by keeping them in reserves or "independent" homelands.
Despite this there was a massive population increase of black people under apartheid, and apart from urban slums (which remain today), there was also investment in infrastructure, hospitals, universities and housing.
Some would argue this was an unsatisfactory trickle, whatever the case may be.

However, by 1994 the ANC promised people all the benefits of modernity and industrialization.
That's what they voted for, not going back to a hut in the hills.
They wanted to move from a Marxist liberation movement to a social democracy.
Since then there's also been an influx of refugees and migrants from all over the continent, especially since the economic collapse of Zimbabwe.

The ANC was for non-racialism and reconciliation under President Mandela.
However, under President Mbeki most of the competent whites, Indians and coloreds left the party, and corrupt and incompetent people got jobs they were unqualified for.
There was a brain-drain of qualified people (including qualified black people) from the public sector to the private sector, and many also went abroad.
Affirmative action and black economic empowerment was ruthlessly imposed.

A lot of black people want basic service delivery, which includes water, sanitation and electricity.
Yet, these demands cannot be met without qualified people, so it becomes a big chicken and egg scenario.

My worst fear about "load-shedding" is that the water will go off.
Rhodes University had no running water for a while, and skin diseases started spreading really fast.
At least twice under systematic power failures we also had no water, because the pumps weren't running, and there are municipalities in the country where this is a common state of affairs.

I can't say there will be a national blackout, but there is a possibility.

Protest at Rhodes University after 9 days of no running water in August 2013:

What is the ANC government doing about this power problem?