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South Africa once had the most abundant and cheap electricity on the continent. Now, it is experiencing power blackouts. It\\u2019s called loadshedding, the process by which the power company Eskom occasionally reduces the demand for electricity on the national grid.

For many South Africans this means no electricity for up to ten hours a day, almost every day. The result is disruption to everyday life, impacting on work, education, sanitation, food and heating.

In 1994 Nelson Mandela\\u2019s African National Congress party promised a better life for all South Africans. So why is South Africa\\u2019s infrastructure crumbling?

Contributors: \\nDuma Qgubule, economist and journalist \\nThomas Mnguni, campaigner with Groundwork \\nAnton Eberhard, professor at the Power Futures Lab at the University of Cape Town \\nLungile Mashele, energy economist

Presented by Audrey Brown\\nProduced by Louise Clarke \\nResearched by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty \\nEdited by Tara McDermott and Tom Bigwood \\nTechnical producer Kelly Young \\nProduction co-ordinator Brenda Brown

(Dressmaker Faieza Caswell sews under candlelight at her workplace in Cape Flats, South Africa. Credit: Esa Alexander/Reuters)