/ 27 January 2015

Load-shedding: Do not go gentle into that good night

Load Shedding: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Eskom is once again subjecting South Africans to load-shedding because of a system that is overly stretched and cannot meet electricity demands.

The electricity supplier said this is a result of unforeseen technical problems at power stations.

It’s hilarious that the country’s “bearers of light” continue to remain in the dark about technical problems and fail to meet demands because of a lack of insight. Things break, no one foresees them and the blackouts roll out.

The regularity of load-shedding is probably leading many South Africans to believe that this is the sole service that Eskom supplies – to provide load-shedding instead of electricity. They have become so good at it that perhaps they should consider changing their slogan. “Eskom: Powering your world” should simply just be changed to “Eskom: Really good at keeping you in the dark”.

The problem has become so persistent that desperate South Africans find themselves quite helpless. Besides turning off items that require a lot of electricity, lighting the odd candle and stoking the fire with a good old rant, there’s little left to do.

So, to offer some sort of support and solace, herewith an inspirational poem adapted from Dylan Thomas’s original for the victims of load-shedding in the hope that they will find their power restored in the fight against the darkness:

Do not go gentle into that good night
Old rage should burn and rave at close of day
Even though there’s little control over the dying of the light

Though feeble men at their end know dark is right
Because their ignorance sparked no lightning
Do not go gentle into that good night

Good people, the last wave, unable to cry “how bright”
Their frail needs room temperature, unable to be refrigerated or cooked
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild people who desperately try to capture the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved the loss of light,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave institutions, near death, who are blinded from sight
Unforeseen circumstances blaze like meteors and say,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, the people, there on the sad height,
Curse Eskom now with your fierce tears and pray
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.