Power outage leaves Joburg businesses counting the cost
Business owners in the Johannesburg CBD say the impact of this week’s power outage in the area has been overwhelming.
A power outage struck parts of the inner-city on Saturday, forcing some shops to close their doors.
The owner of an independent cinema in Market Street says he has lost more than R16 000 due to the blackout.
“Here I make more R16 000 a week, so I have lost more than R16 000 on ticket sales and the kiosk. The only option left is to close our doors because there is not business. Nobody will come because we cannot run anything without electricity,” he says.
Another man, Asif, who owns a décor business, says the lack of electricity has been a source of conflict between him and his customers.
“Yesterday I had a big fight with a customer who made an order but we couldn’t finish because of the power outage. I am losing 90% of my business because people are only ordering materials, but we cannot do any sewing for them.”
A clothing shop owner, Mohamed, says there has not been any communication from City Power.
“We just hear everything in the news. We are hearing different stories. Some say it will be back on Friday, some of my friends say someone stole the cables, but nobody has communicated with us. I have lost a lot of business,” says Mohamed.
A man who co-owns a family men’s clothing business says the outage has forced them to dig into their pockets.
“We cannot really judge much how much money we have lost because of the economic situation. But it has caused additional expenses for us because we have had to buy generators and gas lamps."