Five, six, seven senses – the number is not important for today. What I can confirm is that South African residents have developed an additional sense.
This new sense, which I’m almost tempted to spell as ‘nuisance’, brings to six, seven or eight the number of senses, depending on how many you believe you already have in addition to taste, smell, sight, hearing and touch.
This localised sense is heightened by the presence of dark clouds or a storm brewing in yet-to-be-discovered islands far south of Madagascar – or rainfall, light or heavy. With heavy rain, as our experience grows with years of having acquired this sense, coal gets wet and then our electricity is throttled because most of our plants use it to generate power. And with light rain, coal can still get wet. No difference, really.
Our neighbours in Botswana sing praises to the rain with “Pula! A ene!” In South Africa, we welcome it with some trepidation.
Pula, which is also Botswana’s currency, has more buying power than the rand. When they rush to gather belongings, which would otherwise be damaged by rain, we rush to boil water, cook a pot of steaming pap or call family and friends to remind them to switch off appliance plugs.
This additional sense is the sense of powerlessness. You can taste it in the cold meal you have that night or nights – some areas go without power for days, sometimes weeks – and not all of them are those that owe or are connected illegally.
You can smell it in the food that rots, and the odour of quick washes with little water. You can see it in the darkness that engulfs your area. You can hear it in the silence that covers the night. You can feel it when your toe stubs the corner of a cupboard.
Have you ever opened your eyes on a Saturday or Sunday morning only to be greeted by the sound of powerlessness? It does not matter how quiet, noisy or busy your area is, the presence of power, or lack of it, has a certain sound to it.
This sense of powerlessness is quickly followed by a jolt to turn on the nearest light – and 100% of the time your powerlessness is confirmed. A quick dash to the main switch just to ensure that you have not given away that power also quickly confirms the obvious: you have been rendered powerless.
With the weather getting nippier by the day, we will be constantly reminded of a system that is severely under pressure. This means we will be powerless a lot more or be constantly reminded of being rendered powerless at very short notice. Eish.
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