Living in the Dark: Load Shedding and South Africa's Quest for Inclusive Development

Since multiparty politics in 1994, the ANC government in South Africa has argued for the need for those previously disadvantaged during the apartheid regime to play a meaningful role in the collective development of the country. This was a significant step to ensure practical reconciliation and a path towards inclusive development. Nevertheless, for this to materialize, considerable requirements needed to be met. One was the availability and access to a stable energy supply, in this case, electricity. This paper examines the economic challenges of load shedding in South Africa by examining the available and relevant literature. It examines how load shedding has crippled investor appetite for South Africa as an investment destination. It examines how load shedding has become a barrier to inclusive development and economic growth. The paper finds that load shedding has been driven by corruption, lack of maintenance of old power stations and policy misalignment. Without an effective policy, load shedding will be detrimental to the country's growth, meaning the quest for inclusive development will be futile.