Joburg small businesses scrambling to stay afloat as load shedding takes toll

Small businesses in the Joburg inner city are rushing to find ways to stay financially afloat after a week of continuous rolling blackouts. Last week Thursday, Eskom introduced stage one load shedding, which escalated to stage four on Saturday. Small companies and entrepreneurs have been hit the hardest and have been given little hope by Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe, who warned that it could only end in six months. Blazio Chisale is the owner of a hair and beauty salon as well as a printing business on Helen Joseph Street and her businesses rely heavily on electricity. "We have to work night shifts if we get more customers who want us to work extra hours." A few streets away is a dry cleaning company where one staff member says that he is battling to deal with angry customers.