PHK explains power cut

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Friday November 12, 2010 00:00

 

The minister told Mmegi yesterday that the blackout was not a result of load-shedding but was due to technical problems in the grid originating from South Africa. He said a breakdown at Matimbe Power Station in South Africa caused two turbine engines at Morupule Power Station in Palapye to trip leading to the widespread and lengthy blackout in Botswana. Though he has been touring the country with President Ian Khama, Kedikilwe said that he was informed that engineers were attending to the problem. 'It was a normal breakdown and last time I communicated with my staff, they assured me that the problem was being attended to. It was a minor problem,' he said.

Since the beginning of power rationing at the end of 2008, local businesses have purchased generators as an emergency measure. A number of businessmen contacted for comment said they have not experienced any problems during blackouts because of generators. At Shoprite Supermarket in Gaborone an unidentified staff member said the standby generators did the magic. At President Hotel another staff member said they did not experience any power problems.

However, it was a bad 'Black Tuesday' for ordinary people, to whom a standby generator is a luxury. Many people complained that they had no power for nearly 24 hours. Others say they had to recycle the clothes they wore the previous day because they could not do anything without electricity.

On Facebook, somebody complained that he lost all his perishables and wondered whether he was going to be compensated.

Another Facebook entry blamed the power outage on poor governance. 'Botswana by now should have its own power plant!!! Rather send kids to school to study the electronic engineering masters on power installations and power invention than to study political/humanities 'masters' n stay in the dark the next day....without jobs! A powerful nation like this should stop depending on South Africa that is a ticking time bomb on its own!! Power cuts are slowing down the economic prospects of this country!,' the entry said.