mtws
1yr ago
I am South African and have always lived in relatively well-off areas. I feel quite safe where I currently live, but have indeed been the victim of multiple crimes. Mugged once at gunpoint, hijacked at gunpoint and held for a number of hours, car stolen, home break-in while away (4 separate incidents, too many car break-ins to bother counting). I don't know anyone personally who has been murdered or attacked (in a black vs white context), and I have only been assaulted by white South Africans (Afrikaner randomly assaulting English kids, a common thing growing up). That's the view from what I can argue is a life lived as carefully as possible. I don't leave my areas unless I absolutely have to, and I lock up everything around 6/7PM at night. Things do feel different since the unrest last year (and impending power grid collapse) however, and I have begun the process to leave the country (having citizenship of another country).
We have had consistent load shedding since about November 2022, and its quite clear it has escalated like this due to politics rather than degradation (which has been slow but steady but not as sudden as this). Up until now, you will have two or three weeks of it followed by a two or three month reprieve. It is really having an impact now, and full grid collapse will definitely be too much for us to handle. I and ny family have still been okay, we use gas for cooking and have batteries for routers etc and usually its just a 2 hour tech free gap. When you start losing 8 hours plus a day, it gets difficult. But all our business and lifestyle relies on the fact that it will be coming back on. If i cant work at home, i go to a restaurant or the office, which mostly come with diesel generators in the basement. If one area is offline, you can always move to another nearby, and everything still functions. We hold it together. But if that power never comes back on, it all goes
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