Dear Eskom,

Today I write to you to say that I am sorry. You see, a year ago, I wrote a letter to the press (the letter was published), and in it, I said:

“…. We bought a property in Bettys’ Bay a year ago. Our building plans have been approved, we have ticked all and any legally required boxes for our development. Our main problem in moving forward with our development, is an awkwardly placed Eskom cable. This cable is placed in such a way that we can’t gain access to our property, and we need Eskom to help us move this cable. (We may not do it on our own, as there are laws that prohibit us from doing so). What I can tell you is this: Phone calls to Eskom go unanswered; emails do not get responded to. On-line applications seem to get lost in the system. And if you do find a voice, the level of indifference and rudeness is incomprehensible.

After almost 3 months of trying to engage with Eskom, both as private individuals and through an Electrical Engineering company, our efforts are futile. We just seem to not be able to get any form of response from Eskom…. “

It is now a year later, and I write to say that I am sorry.

I am sorry that I that in a moment of time, I felt that you were ignoring me as an individual person. I am sorry that I believed that you were not responding to my…NO! – they were not requests. THEY WERE PLEAS! I am sorry that I became so desperate that I wrote to the press about it. I am sorry that when, on the back of my letter to the press, I was contacted by a rather highly placed person in Eskom, who asked how I could be helped. I am sorry that I actually believed that his offer of help was sincere. It was not. I am sorry, that in all this, I felt like a victim. That I behaved like a “Karen.” *

You see, something happened to change my mind. The lesson was very hard, 6 days long, and very difficult.

Around two weeks ago, Hermanus suffered a power outage that lasted for about 6 days. There were various causes for this outage, from – you guessed it, from cable theft to infrastructure damage. The Mayor of Hermanus, who is quite a live wire (certainly more alive than Eskom connected to a 12volt car battery), did daily updates on the situation, and what came through strongly, was that as much as she was trying to do her job by keeping the community informed, there was simply no communication from Eskom as to the progress of repairs. I sat in Botrivier, all snug and happy in my little farmhouse, but my heart was bleeding for the people of Hermanus. It was a bitterly cold week, and not a good time to be without electricity.

Little did I know, that two weeks later, we would be in the same boat here in Botrivier.

Friday morning, as the dawn dawned on us, so did the awareness that the cold and darkness we all felt in our homes, was not due to loadshedding, but, due to cable theft and damage to infrastructure. For 6 long days, – yes! This time it was our turn to endure 6 days!, – we sat in our cold dark houses, wondering exactly how long the torture would last. We would get daily updates from the Theewaterskloof Mayor’s Office. And guess what? I quote from the letter sent out by the Office of the Municipal Manager:

“.…all attempts by officials to get an update from the relevant Eskom officials have failed….”

Oh, why am I not surprised?

This brings me back to my apology.

I apologise that for a brief period in my life I thought that Eskom would grant me the courtesy to respond to me.

Now I know: It was not about me.

If they can ignore the Mayor’s Office. If they can ignore an entire community, then why should they respond to only me.

*For those who do not know, a “Karen” is a term used for an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or police other peoples’ behaviour.