5 ms·

It's worse than ever. I am having a lot of trouble keeping to my deadlines for work and have to work around all the blackouts which frustratingly disrupts my li

It's worse than ever. I am having a lot of trouble keeping to my deadlines for work and have to work around all the blackouts which frustratingly disrupts my life and thousands of other businesses. Just a couple more years until my degree is done, then I am GTFO of here.

Aeolun 7y ago
Can’t you get a UPS? Or do they last too long to make that an option?
- dade_ 7y ago
  Load shedding lasts for hours. Generators are a big business, but they are expensive to buy and run. Keeping a good battery in your laptop is great, but the power to the wired internet infrastructure, the cell towers, etc are also cut. You could drive to the office, but the traffic lights have no power either. So it is nightmare. The real reason you can't operate in ZA is Empowerment, and what Google probably ran into. They can only own 49% of the business the start. They must find an empowerment partner (which means some black people, but they have no money so you have to give them their controlling 51% share) that happens to be a friend of the ANC (not a documented requirement, but I did mention corruption). So they will siphon funds out of the company, but if you have the right ones, you can win big government contracts such with the bailout money they keep getting. The place is a banana republic - Live there, enjoy you cheap labour, great food, amazing geography, the wildlife, your personal security guards and inexpensive servants, but don't reside there and keep everything in another currency.
  - happypants23 7y ago
    > The real reason you can't operate in ZA is Empowerment, and what Google probably ran into. They can only own 49% of the business the start. There's no evidence that Google ran into empowerment (BBBEE) roadblocks here. And that assertion about 49% ownership is quite incorrect. BBBEE doesn't actually work like that (1). A lot of factors go into scoring a company's empowerment rating. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad-Based_Black_Economic_Empowerment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad-Based_Black_Economic_Emp...
    - dade_ 7y ago
      'Companies in South Africa that deal with the government or parastatals must be empowered as required by the Preferential Procurement Act.' $3M USD / year turnover is a low bar these days and must apply all seven pillars of BBBEE to calculate their score as per the Generic Scorecard. - Black Ownership - 25 points - Black Management control - 15 points - Black Skills development – 20 points - Black Enterprise & Supplier development – 40 points - Black Socio-economic (SED) development 5 pts So yeah, I need 51% Black ownership to get full points and again for management control points. This is so racist my brain is bleeding, but it could be republished as a book on how to make a corrupt government. From the Wikipedia article, "A general criticism can be made that wealthy and politically connected black individuals have been the real beneficiaries of BEE and not those still living in poverty. In fact, unemployment and inequality have both increased since the introduction of BBBEE policies. In 2018 a surfacing argument is that BBBEE should be changed from a race-based policy to a policy that favours poverty regardless of skin colour. Apartheid was criticised exactly because of race-based legislation that favoured a minority based on skin colour and BBBEE once again has introduced race-based policies diverting South Africa's problems from endemic poverty to race. "
  - skc 7y ago
    Empowerment you say? This service was to be provided for free, so not sure what you're on about. This sort of comment is all the rage for a certain mindset though, not surprising.
    - dade_ 7y ago
      'Companies in South Africa that deal with the government or parastatals must be empowered as required by the Preferential Procurement Act.' Business is measured by revenue, not the price of a service. I assumed it is obvious to everyone here that everything these companies do is for a profit, regardless of the price tag to the consumer.
      - skc 7y ago
        Still doesn't pass the smell test since Google, Amazon and Microsoft among others continue to increase their presence in South Africa.
        dade_ 7y ago
        Different scenario. I am expanding the work I have done in South Africa too, it works out well other than load-shedding. I get great resources that speak English with a mysterious accent in a European timezone and I pay them with Monopoly money. Empowerment is a 50% profit factor for their local business, but the numbers are good enough to cover it.
sgt 7y ago
It's not like loadshedding is happening year round. We have periods of it, but it's almost as if you forgot last time it happpened. Now it's ongoing though, and yes it is frustrating.

Aeolun 7y ago

Can’t you get a UPS? Or do they last too long to make that an option?

dade_ 7y ago
Load shedding lasts for hours. Generators are a big business, but they are expensive to buy and run. Keeping a good battery in your laptop is great, but the power to the wired internet infrastructure, the cell towers, etc are also cut. You could drive to the office, but the traffic lights have no power either. So it is nightmare. The real reason you can't operate in ZA is Empowerment, and what Google probably ran into. They can only own 49% of the business the start. They must find an empowerment partner (which means some black people, but they have no money so you have to give them their controlling 51% share) that happens to be a friend of the ANC (not a documented requirement, but I did mention corruption). So they will siphon funds out of the company, but if you have the right ones, you can win big government contracts such with the bailout money they keep getting. The place is a banana republic - Live there, enjoy you cheap labour, great food, amazing geography, the wildlife, your personal security guards and inexpensive servants, but don't reside there and keep everything in another currency.
- happypants23 7y ago
  > The real reason you can't operate in ZA is Empowerment, and what Google probably ran into. They can only own 49% of the business the start. There's no evidence that Google ran into empowerment (BBBEE) roadblocks here. And that assertion about 49% ownership is quite incorrect. BBBEE doesn't actually work like that (1). A lot of factors go into scoring a company's empowerment rating. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad-Based_Black_Economic_Empowerment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad-Based_Black_Economic_Emp...
  - dade_ 7y ago
    'Companies in South Africa that deal with the government or parastatals must be empowered as required by the Preferential Procurement Act.' $3M USD / year turnover is a low bar these days and must apply all seven pillars of BBBEE to calculate their score as per the Generic Scorecard. - Black Ownership - 25 points - Black Management control - 15 points - Black Skills development – 20 points - Black Enterprise & Supplier development – 40 points - Black Socio-economic (SED) development 5 pts So yeah, I need 51% Black ownership to get full points and again for management control points. This is so racist my brain is bleeding, but it could be republished as a book on how to make a corrupt government. From the Wikipedia article, "A general criticism can be made that wealthy and politically connected black individuals have been the real beneficiaries of BEE and not those still living in poverty. In fact, unemployment and inequality have both increased since the introduction of BBBEE policies. In 2018 a surfacing argument is that BBBEE should be changed from a race-based policy to a policy that favours poverty regardless of skin colour. Apartheid was criticised exactly because of race-based legislation that favoured a minority based on skin colour and BBBEE once again has introduced race-based policies diverting South Africa's problems from endemic poverty to race. "
- skc 7y ago
  Empowerment you say? This service was to be provided for free, so not sure what you're on about. This sort of comment is all the rage for a certain mindset though, not surprising.
  - dade_ 7y ago
    'Companies in South Africa that deal with the government or parastatals must be empowered as required by the Preferential Procurement Act.' Business is measured by revenue, not the price of a service. I assumed it is obvious to everyone here that everything these companies do is for a profit, regardless of the price tag to the consumer.
    - skc 7y ago
      Still doesn't pass the smell test since Google, Amazon and Microsoft among others continue to increase their presence in South Africa.
      - dade_ 7y ago
        Different scenario. I am expanding the work I have done in South Africa too, it works out well other than load-shedding. I get great resources that speak English with a mysterious accent in a European timezone and I pay them with Monopoly money. Empowerment is a 50% profit factor for their local business, but the numbers are good enough to cover it.

sgt 7y ago

It's not like loadshedding is happening year round. We have periods of it, but it's almost as if you forgot last time it happpened. Now it's ongoing though, and yes it is frustrating.