Bay blackout another blow to battered hospitality sector

After trying to claw their way back to a sustainable footing, guests houses and hotels in Summerstrand have been dealt another blow, having to turn away clients due to a power outage since Friday.

A number of establishments in Summerstrand had subsequently suffered further financial costs as a result.

This is after repair work to vandalised cables was stifled by a lack of suitable spares to restore the power supply to Summerstrand, Forest Hill and South End.

Adding insult to injury, on Monday Eskom announced that it would implement stage 4 load-shedding until 5am on Friday.

Municipal spokesperson Kupido Baron said a team dispatched to the site were looking to fully restore power by the end of business on Tuesday.

However, many businesses in the area are already suffering from the outage.

Thandiwe Theko, manager at the Emabaleni guest house in Summerstrand, said while they had a small generator it was only able to keep lights on.

“It’s terrible. I had to refer seven regular clients, who were supposed to stay for two weeks, to another guest house because the water is cold,” she said.

She said the business was still trying to recover from financial losses as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is affecting us very badly and we don’t know if the situation will be sorted out any time soon,” Theko said.

Andrew Raff of the Beachway B&B said it was the first time they had experienced these f prolonged power outages.

“This has had a major impact on the business.

“Since Friday, I don’t know how many clients I had to turn away because the little generators we have on caters for lights and small electric appliances,” he said.

Raff said he had been running the business for five years and was still recovering from losses suffered during Covid.

“They said maybe by tomorrow evening the repairs would be done and power restored, but I don’t know.

“I hope for everyone’s sake they do,” he said.

Angelo’s manager in Summerstrand, Geod Banzi, said they had to spent about R2,400 a day on fuel to keep the generators going.

“With no fridge there is no restaurant, we are now unable to sell everything. The fridge is not working and we are throwing away food,” he said.

He said with stage 4 load-shedding it would make things far worse for them.

Monurlalem Alam of the Sweetworths shop said all his ice products worth about R1,000 had melted and would have to be thrown away.

“We are losing money because of this, the business is slow and I think [we lost] close to R20,000 since Friday,” he said. 

Federated Hospitality Association of SA (Fedhasa) spokesperson Glen Pappin said the power outages had a major impact particularly for guest houses, while hotels were still able to operate albeit at a higher cost.

“I feel for the guest houses and we are also facing a load-shedding problem already, if it continues many will be losing their revenues,” he said.

Port Elizabeth Metro B&B Association chair Shena Wilmot said this was further hampering the already battered industry.

“We have definitely had to turn away guests as we cannot offer what they expect — a warm shower, internet and lights, this doesn’t even take food into account,” she said.

She said once the electricity was  restored, they would still have stage 4 load-shedding. .

“It has been a very difficult two years, and those who have managed to survive are now facing even more hard times, the losses of food [fridges/freezers], turning guests away and having disgruntled guests to deal with, as well as the water crisis are making it very difficult to continue.”

However, Baron said the team dispatched to the site was continuing with the repairs  despite  Monday’s downpour.

“Repair work on the 132kV electrical cable, supplying electricity to Summerstrand, Forest Hill and parts of Humewood and Summerstrand, is still progressing well despite the current heavy rain,” he said.

He said the workers had covered their work area with canvas before starting their tasks, enabling them to proceed without interruption in the inclement weather.

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