Times Of Swaziland: ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY WILL COLLAPSE - STANLEY

ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY WILL COLLAPSE - STANLEY
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Mxolisi Dlamini on 14/06/2023 10:19:00


MBABANE – These words came from Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture
(ENCAC) CEO Stanley Dlamini during an interview about the proposed
load-shedding.
According to the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) website, load-shedding is a
deliberate and temporary interruption of electricity supply to avoid a
countrywide blackout due to high demand. It is normally implemented in all parts
of the country at different times as a control option and to avoid unplanned
power cuts. EEC prepares a monthly schedule that serves as a guide to managing
load reduction. While the schedule shows daily load reduction plans for the
morning, afternoon, and evening hours, electricity usage usually peaks in the
evening and early morning hours. The schedule is a tentative plan of how the
load will be reduced should the need arise at any time of the day.Arts and
Culture CEO Stanley Dlamini shared with this publication that the load- shedding
will affect all industries, but the entertainment industry is likely to
collapse.
collapse
“When you talk about electricity, it’s more like speaking about having blood
in your veins. If there is no blood in your veins, you will collapse, so I am
saying the entertainment sector will collapse. The load-shedding issue is not
well addressed; I would fancy a situation where the country would already be
debating this issue. I want to believe that load-shedding is controlled; during
the discussions, it would be wise to talk about zoning this country,” Dlamini
said. He went on to share that the debate is important because the event’s
organisers will also be given a chance to have a say pertaining to the
load-shedding.“I can imagine those people who host festivals as well as
events; these people are likely to have their shows stopped because of
load-shedding. The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Economic Planning
should engage these event organisers as well as plan on zoning the country. We
are a small country to be having adverse effects from it; if we were to zone
this country the right way, we would be able to control the load-shedding,”
Dlamini said.
He further said that event organisers need to invest in generators to use when
hosting shows. “Event organisers need to think ahead and think about
generators as well as alternative lighting systems to ensure that festivals and
events are not interrupted by load-shedding. EEC should also be hosting national
debates where event organisers can share what they think as a way to avoid being
affected by load shedding. ‘‘As Arts and Culture, we are mobilising event
organisers to make contingency plans, such as procuring generators,” Dlamini
said.