PHOLA, South Africa — President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa assumed power promising a “new dawn.” But just over a year later, he can’t keep the nation’s lights on. A month before a national election, the worst rolling blackouts in years are regularly plunging South Africans into the dark. With annoying frequency, warnings of “load-shedding” pop up on cellphones, referring to the power cuts imposed to prevent a collapse of the national electricity grid. You can’t bathe, you can’t iron,” said Victoria Nkosi, 48, a longtime resident of a government-built house in Phola. “Why is there load-shedding when we’re surrounded by power plants?”

Source: New York Times April 06, 2019 17:48 UTC