SMALL business owners are bearing the brunt of load shedding, the cost of which has exceeded an estimated R1.2 trillion in South Africa.
Jeremy Lang, the chief investment officer at Business Partners Limited, a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) financier, said the financial impact has been shouldered by thousands of small businesses, considered the backbone of the economy.
“Their profits are declining and they cannot afford backup systems like inverters or generators,” he said.
For Mala Manikam, 47, from Westcliff in Chatsworth, this reality hit home when she had to close her tuck shop because her fridge and freezer, that stored her stock, blew up due to load shedding.
Manikam said she opened the tuck shop about 12 years ago out of a wendy house on her property.
“My husband who
