Even though I am away from home in Durban I still pay attention to the notifications that come through from our community secure zone. They have experienced a rough day having no power from the early morning hours and the power has only just been switched back on after coming back for 10 minutes and disappearing. This is the electricity department replacing the broken part, but not fixing what is causing that part to break meaning they need more skills and they are not the ones capable of doing the repair.
Topping off the day they now have no internet services and means more down time which is not bad enough having no power for the day. My property and my neighbor would have been fine as we have solar and these types of no power days make no difference.
What we have noticed whilst being away is how poor the cell/mobile phone services are and it kind of makes sense when I speak to my business partner from Johannesburg we often have to recall each other continuously as the call always drops. He lives in the area where I am currently staying and everyone we have called we have to call back due to lost signal.
The hotel the other night I had no internet signal and virtually no cell phone signal and could not connect or even use my phone as a hotspot and why I was absent from HIVE. The second day was a different hotel by about 100 meters up the road and we had perfect signal.
We are now staying in my brother in laws house which is about 5km's outside the town and the signal is sporadic and depending where you are in the house you may or may not have signal.
Having lived in the Umhlangha area and moved away 16 years ago I have seen the growth of this area and the weak signals is down to the sheer volume of people now living here. The new buildings and developments have spawn everywhere and this is no little village anymore which it once was. New signal towers are required and the service providers will not be in a rush to do this because half the people living here are tourists so their complaints don't really count.
Services across the country are generally third rate and makes no difference whether you have millions in your bank account or have nothing. Where we live in Johannesburg I would estimate these off days with no power happen once or twice a month and the length of down time varies and it is all down to the sub stations not coping with the load. Every area has expanded and like the cell phone towers cannot cope with the volume anymore. There is no town planning and buildings just appear so one can understand why the sewerage and treatment plants are not functioning how they should.
I think we can all see how the entire infrastructure system needs an upgrade and also know that is wishful thinking as there is no funds. I am not sure what the answer is besides moving off the grid which if enough people do that saves the electricity grid from collapsing. Everything else needs replacing and that cannot be fixed by home owners.