Taking turns to cook: Everyday temporalities of electricity use in Witsand, Cape Town (South Africa)

Abstract

This paper examines the temporalities of electricity practices to understand the social dynamics of electricity use and demand in Witsand, a low-income neighbourhood in Cape Town. Despite residents of Cape Town's informal settlements accessing electricity through formal and informal means, the reliability of electricity access is undermined by pervasive demand-side electricity blackouts. While demand-side electricity blackouts are linked to the social and temporal dynamics of electricity use, debates on electricity provision in Cape Town's informal settlements have largely focused on the supply-side dynamics of grid extension and off-grid solutions. To understand the temporal dynamics of electricity use, I focus on cyclical and episodic rhythms of electricity practices and the challenges emerging from rhythm synchronicity. The paper draws on an ethnographic study in Witsand, which involved interviews with residents and community leaders and participant and non-participant observations. Findings reveal variations in the rhythms of electricity practices between formal, informal and backyard houses within Witsand. I argue that the rhythms of electricity practices in Witsand are spatially contingent and shaped by specific place-based dynamics, namely, multihousehold living arrangements, improvised materiality of makeshift housing and the operation of home-based industries.