Loadshedding is back and with it, come the inconveniences South Africans have gotten used to.
Some are things they can deal with, like not being able to cook supper or not being able to work from home. But some inconveniences have more serious consequences.
A power cut at the Mdantsane Magistrate's Court in the Eastern Cape means life comes to a stop.
And depending on the time of the day, they have to wait out the two and a half hours or cancel court for the day.
Stakeholders say this is problematic.
The chairperson of National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADEL), Advocate Sakhi Poswa says it is a huge inconvenience for all those involved.
"It puts everyone involved on hold. This puts breaks on the wheels of justice and it is a strain on members of the public who are our clients.
"If a matter is postponed, it means we must come back to court and the clients then need to pay us for those days."
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Advocate Poswa says it all has a ripple effect.
"Remember there are also witnesses that sometimes have to come from far to attend court and they have to be called back from wherever they come from when there are unexpected postponements. This really puts everything in disarray."
He adds that there should be generators that kick in whenever there is a power outage.
Luxolo Tyali, the Eastern Cape regional spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, tells Drum that it is unfortunate that not all courts have backup generators.
"Currently, loadshedding does affect our productivity in that the courts and we cannot do any recorded cases during this time. However, other matters that do not require recording do proceed."
Tyali says that it is also not correct that the courts should cancel proceedings for the day due to electricity cuts.
"It only affects the workload during the hours of load shedding."
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The Department of Justice spokesman Steve Mahlangu says they have a plan to ensure that all courts have generators so that justice is not delayed.
"The department incorporates installation of generators in all active projects for renovation or additional accommodation. Currently, there are projects in five courts with specs that include installation of generators. There are further nine courts at an advanced planning stage for renovation with installation of generators as part of the project," he says.
The spokesman for the Legal Practice Council, Kabelo Letebele says they were not aware of the issue.
"To support and assist the process to ensure that access to justice is not delayed, we will engage relevant stakeholders to get more understanding of the situation and determine if there is any support or assistance we can provide."
Asanda Pakade, of the East London and Mdantsane Attorneys Association and chairperson of the Eastern Cape Black Lawyers Association says the Mdantsane Magistrate's Court poses a real challenge for them as practitioners in the area.
"The electricity issue in that court is a real problem that affects us all badly. They also have water issues in that court and very often there is no water. Now imagine the situation when they have no water and no electricity on the same day or consecutive days when staff are sent home.
"This become prejudicial to our clients because of legal fees. Justice delayed is justice denied. The reality is that some of them come from poor backgrounds so even traveling to court for the cases and only learning when they get there that matter is postponed because of water or electricity becomes a problem," Asanda says.
He adds that court rolls are already congested and this further exacerbates the backlog.
