south africa has entered a dark age. as winter sets in, the power is off. for up to 12 hours a day. it's notjust power failure and a host of basic services, housing, policing and jobs, south africa's government is struggling to deliver. i africa's government is struggling to deliver. i would like to see — struggling to deliver. i would like to see a _ struggling to deliver. i would like to see a different - like to see a different government because i'm losing hope from our government. south

africans are _ hope from our government. south africans are realising _ hope from our government. south africans are realising that - africans are realising that they— africans are realising that they don't change the way they vote, _ they don't change the way they vote, south africa will end up in a _ vote, south africa will end up in a very. _ vote, south africa will end up in a very, very dark place. there _ in a very, very dark place. there will_ in a very, very dark place. there will be anarchy, there will be — there will be anarchy, there will be looting _ there will be anarchy, there will be looting all— there will be anarchy, there will be looting all over - there will be anarchy, there will be looting all over this i will be looting all over this country— will be looting all over this country because _ will be looting all over this country because nothing . will be looting all over this i country because nothing will will be looting all over this - country because nothing will be working — country because nothing will be workim} if— country because nothing will be workinu. . ., , country because nothing will be workin.. . ., , ., working. if certain things are not resolved, _ working. if certain things are not resolved, we _ working. if certain things are not resolved, we will - working. if certain things are | not resolved, we will become working. if certain things are i not resolved, we will become a failed state.— failed state. the anc, nelson mandela's _ failed state. the anc, nelson mandela's party. _ failed state. the anc, nelson mandela's party, has - failed state. the anc, nelson mandela's party, has ruled i mandela's party, has ruled uninterrupted for 29 years. it is a day of reckoning coming? welcome to hardtalk on the road from south africa. i'm stephen sackur. back in 1994, the one overwhelming emotion in this country was hope. the repressive racist apartheid

regime had been toppled. the new power in the land was the african national congress, promising a better life for all south africans. well, three decades on, it's time to judge how the anc is doing. to too many south africans, this looks and feels like a story of failure. this township in cape town is nestled under majestic table mountain. a sprawling reminder of south africa's status as the most unequal society on earth. in africa's most advanced economy, at least half of young people cannot find work. life here is never easy, but right now south africa's power crisis is hitting the poorest hardest. no one here wants to be sick when the power is off. but it

happens every day. the main township hospital has had to adapt to what they call load shedding. the man in charge is david. ~ , ., david. with load shedding now in lace david. with load shedding now in place and — david. with load shedding now in place and the _ david. with load shedding now in place and the different - in place and the different stages, instead of reducing we are increasing. we have had to adjust our lives and work around it. now, we have to switch off our scant machine. scanners have to go off? find scanners have to go off? and that service _ scanners have to go off? and that service has _ scanners have to go off? and that service has to _ scanners have to go off? fific that service has to come to scanners have to go off? 2:1c that service has to come to a halt. �* .., . . that service has to come to a halt. �* , , ., ., halt. because there is a danger that it could _ halt. because there is a danger that it could damage _ halt. because there is a danger that it could damage the - that it could damage the machinery?— that it could damage the machine ? ~ ., , . machinery? we have experience of that. machinery? we have experience of that- it _ machinery? we have experience of that- it is _ machinery? we have experience of that. it is not _ machinery? we have experience of that. it is not just _ machinery? we have experience of that. it is notjust danger, - of that. it is notjust danger, it is lived reality. if we lose power this machine switches off. the generator takes two to three minutes to take over and thenit three minutes to take over and then it means that this is going to be down for that much. you are saying for two to three minutes, a patient who is on this respirator, being kept alive by this respirator,

suddenly the machine will go down. . ., . suddenly the machine will go down. , ., , ., down. yes and there is no power- — down. yes and there is no power. then _ down. yes and there is no power. then what - down. yes and there is no i power. then what happens? and. . . power. then what happens? and- - - if _ power. then what happens? and... if we _ power. then what happens? and... if we do _ power. then what happens? and... if we do not- power. then what happens? and... if we do not have - power. then what happens? | and... if we do not have now and invert it like we have inside, it means we will have to disconnect and manually that patient. to disconnect and manually that atient. , , ., ., , patient. the nurses and doctors have to literally _ patient. the nurses and doctors have to literally manually - patient. the nurses and doctors have to literally manually pumpj have to literally manually pump the oxygen?— the oxygen? yes. for the atient the oxygen? yes. for the patient to _ the oxygen? yes. for the patient to be _ the oxygen? yes. for the patient to be alive. - the oxygen? yes. for the patient to be alive. two l the oxygen? yes. for the| patient to be alive. two to three minutes is enough for the patient to get brain damage so we cannot say we are going to wait for power and do nothing. this is an extra level of stress in an emergency situation anyway, and suddenly you have to think about the power, as well. absolutely. even if the _ power, as well. absolutely. even if the generator - power, as well. absolutely. even if the generator takes | even if the generator takes over, which will then supply power to this wonderful piece of equipment, sometimes this wonderful piece of equipment doesn't come back immediately. because the disturbance in the power means that the machine

goes wrong?— power means that the machine goes wrong?_ it - power means that the machine goes wrong?_ it is i goes wrong? absolutely. it is 12 noon and _ goes wrong? absolutely. it is 12 noon and the _ goes wrong? absolutely. it is 12 noon and the mains - goes wrong? absolutely. it is 12 noon and the mains power| goes wrong? absolutely. it is - 12 noon and the mains power has just gone off. it happens every day. today's power cut is supposed to last for 4.5 hours. this hospital is fortunate... they have back—up generators, so the lights can come back on very quickly but remember this. there are many smaller health facilities across south africa which don't have those back—up generators, and where they are going to be without power for hours. the hospital has had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on diesel generators. that money not going to patient care. the health sector has asked to be excluded from power outages, the government says thatis outages, the government says that is impossible. so the prognosis for this winter, say health leaders, is grim. this is a difficult question, but be

with me. our patients coming to harm specifically because of the load shedding reality? irate the load shedding reality? we have not the load shedding reality? - have not had, fortunately, any incident where patients died or there has been significant harm, but i would say yes because unfortunately it does impact on patient lives because they cannot get the care that they cannot get the care that they need at the time when they need it. so we have to postpone the care, the patients have to come back when the load shedding kicks in. a big hospitals like this, the generator kicks in and we carry on, but at the smaller clinics in particularly in rural areas and poorer communities, where we don't yet have generators installed, people have to come back or they have to be diverted to other facilities. so that has obviously had an impact. we have to fix the load shedding problem. this is not

sustainable going forward. obviously we have funding to make sure generators are functioning, we can pay for diesel and fuel, and install solar panels at significant cost. but we have to fix load shedding, that is the long and short of it. shedding, that is the long and short of it— short of it. south africa's ower short of it. south africa's power crisis _ short of it. south africa's power crisis has - short of it. south africa's power crisis has been - short of it. south africa's power crisis has been a l short of it. south africa's i power crisis has been a long time coming. for decades its relied on increasingly obsolete coal—fired plants. please from the state owned energy company, eskom, for massive government investment, were ignored for too long. incompetence has been compounded by corruption. a former boss of eskom alleges criminal cartels with connections inside government have siphoned billions out of the company. for many south africans, electricity is the only utility they have access to. in much of this township,

piped water and sanitation are a distant dream. when you drive through the township, itjust seems to go on and on and on. it is fast. we reckon about 1.4 million people live here but the truth is that nobody really knows because every year more and more migrants arrive here from the rural areas far beyond cape town. when it comes to service delivery, it's here that people are really feeling that people are really feeling that the system isn't working. daily power cuts are killing local businesses. this man runs an upholstery business. show me inside your business because i want to see how many machines use electricity. but when the power is off, so is his

electric sewing machine. which of your machines need electricity?— electricity? it's the compressor - electricity? it's the compressor and i electricity? it's the | compressor and the electricity? it's the - compressor and the tim electricity? it's the _ compressor and the tim macrow sewing machines. 50 compressor and the tim macrow sewing machines.— compressor and the tim macrow sewing machines. so one of your colleagues _ sewing machines. so one of your colleagues is _ sewing machines. so one of your colleagues is on _ sewing machines. so one of your colleagues is on the _ sewing machines. so one of your colleagues is on the sewing - colleagues is on the sewing machine. this cannot work when you have a power cut. 1 machine. this cannot work when you have a power cut.— you have a power cut. i cannot work without _ you have a power cut. i cannot work without power. _ you have a power cut. i cannot work without power. he - you have a power cut. i cannot work without power. he can't. work without power. he can't make orders. _ work without power. he can't make orders, he _ work without power. he can't make orders, he loses - work without power. he can't - make orders, he loses business. this is affecting us a lot, so if we close there are a lot of people. i have four people working here, i have two... you have to let _ working here, i have two... you have to let them _ working here, i have two... you have to let them go? _ working here, i have two... you have to let them go? i - working here, i have two... you have to let them go? i have - working here, i have two... you have to let them go? i have to i have to let them go? i have to let them go — have to let them go? i have to let them go because _ have to let them go? i have to let them go because if - have to let them go? i have to let them go because if the - have to let them go? i have to | let them go because if the load shedding is going on a. share let them go because if the load shedding is going on a.- shedding is going on a. are all of our shedding is going on a. are all of your fellow _ shedding is going on a. are all of your fellow shop _ shedding is going on a. are all of your fellow shop owners, i of your fellow shop owners, business owners, experiencing the same thing? i business owners, experiencing the same thing?— the same thing? i think they are. the same thing? i think they are- what — the same thing? i think they are. what about _ the same thing? i think they are. what about other - the same thing? i think they are. what about other basic| are. what about other basic services like _ are. what about other basic services like water, - services like water, sanitation, sewage? do you have these services? this sanitation, sewage? do you have these services?— these services? this is what our government _

these services? this is what our government promised i these services? this is what| our government promised us these services? this is what - our government promised us from 1994, that it is going to provide for each and everyone to have equal living, but there is nothing like that happening are. , ., ., is nothing like that happening are. ., ., ., are. does that mean you would like to see _ are. does that mean you would like to see a — are. does that mean you would like to see a different - like to see a different government? 1 like to see a different government?- like to see a different government? like to see a different rovernment? ., ~ ., , government? i would like to see a different _ government? i would like to see a different government - government? i would like to see a different government because| a different government because i am losing hope from our government.— i am losing hope from our government. but this is the anc, government. but this is the anc. the — government. but this is the anc, the people _ government. but this is the anc, the people who - government. but this is the anc, the people who say i government. but this is the i anc, the people who say stay with us, we gave you liberation. what would you say to that? it liberation. what would you say to that? . liberation. what would you say to that? , ., ., to that? it is feeling a lot. i think they _ to that? it is feeling a lot. i think they must... - to that? it is feeling a lot. i think they must... i - to that? it is feeling a lot. i think they must... i don't i think they must... i don't know, i think they must deliver a lot more from what they promised because if they don't deliver they are going to lose people, they are going to lose people, they are going to lose people a lot because they are failing us a lot. that people a lot because they are failing us a lot.— failing us a lot. at the anc headquarters _ failing us a lot. at the anc headquarters in _ failing us a lot. at the anc - headquarters in johannesburg, headquarters in johannesburg, they are headquarters injohannesburg, they are proud of their central role in south africa's liberation story. but the party of mandela is now a part in crisis. it is an anc government which cannot keep the lights

on. and party boss fikile mbalula knows the load shedding hits south africa and does more damage to the ruling party. irate damage to the ruling party. we are damage to the ruling party. - are focused in terms of dealing with it, it is, i can't tell you tonight or anytime that this is an easy matter for our government. surely, after covid—19, this is the biggest challenge that has faced us internally. it challenge that has faced us internally-— internally. it is very candid of ou internally. it is very candid of you to _ internally. it is very candid of you to see _ internally. it is very candid of you to see this - internally. it is very candid of you to see this is - internally. it is very candid of you to see this is an - of you to see this is an achilles' heel because achilles heels tend to bring people down and if this continues it will bring the anc down, won't it? it will affect the fortunes of the anc outright majority. it will. the anc outright ma'ority. it will. ., , ., i. will. how disappointed are you with the state _ will. how disappointed are you with the state south _ will. how disappointed are you with the state south africa - with the state south africa isn't there?

south africa is undergoing challenges like many other countries. but i think to put us into a category of failed state, it's an exaggeration. ican give... you think that's a conversation that south africans are having amongst themselves? well, it comes from pockets of the powerful thinkers in the country who project us as displaying characteristics of a failed state. we may not be too defensive to that. if certain things are not resolved, we will become a failed state. the impact of the power crisis reaches far beyond south africa's cities. a three—hour drive from cape town is some of the best citrus farming in the world. 60 tonnes of clementines harvested

from just one hectare of western cape soil. picked, sorted, packed and shipped to supermarkets in britain. robert pattison has built this farming business up over three decades. it relies on irrigation, and that means it relies on the power to pump water. basically, every crop in the western cape, apart from wheat and rooibos tea, is irrigated. and so the entire western cape is totally dependent on a reliable power supply, which we haven't got. the western cape is a mediterranean climate, so we have a long, hot summer period with basically no rain and then a relatively short winter when it is supposed to rain. but for the past seven years, we've had way lower than average rainfall. so we haven't been getting the winter rain that we need to fill our dams so that we can irrigate the orchards and vineyards and everything through the summer. so now we've become even more dependent on underground water.

as i listen to you, i'm thinking this sounds like a nightmare scenario. you've got a long—term water—shortage problem, which is being massively exacerbated by this immediate power problem. we only had this level of loadshedding from aboutjanuary, february, so we have managed to survive this season. but if this happens next year, where we have another dry winter and we have stage—six loadshedding, which is where we're 11 hours a day out, i don't know how we're going to do it, honestly. here's why irrigation matters so much. the local clanwilliam dam is at just 16% of full capacity. climate change is hitting the western cape particularly hard. unreliable power could make farming here impossible.

according to ann patterson, robert's wife and business partner, many farmers are struggling. the agriculture sector and with it, hundreds of thousands of jobs needs reliable power. we farm in a fairly good and affluent area, but other parts of the western cape and smaller farms who don't have the access to capital or access to financing at short notice would not have been able to buy generators on the hop and they would have lost their crops. and we know of a couple of people that have actually lost their farms or have had to lease their farms orjust walk away from their farms. and you do not know how long this loadshedding challenge is going to last. exactly. we get promised that they're going to sort it out, but yet it just seems to be all talk and no action. and i think from a mental point of view— and from your psychic,

we just don't know what the future holds. do you invest in your business? what do you do? we just don't know what the end game is going to be. the thing is, if you feel like that, your neighbours feel like that, other business people across this country feel like that — that's a catastrophe for the south african economy. it is. we are all affected. all businesses are affected by this. it's the most serious thing you can do to the economy is to cut off the power supply. south africa's president, cyril ramaphosa, is in trouble and he knows it. the national disaster management centre has consequently classified the energy crisis and its impact as a disaster. he declared a state of national disaster as loadshedding worsened, but eskom still reckons outages may get worse as winter bites. south africa's opposition

parties sense an opportunity. polls show anc support falling below 50%. when you said not so long ago there is a changing of the guard coming in south africa, the anc�*s decline is terminal, it's just a matter of how fast. did you really believe that? of course i believed it. and i think it's a fair assessment about where the anc find themselves in the last local government elections in 2021, they, for the first time in post democratic south africa, lost their majority and fell below 50%. this obviously allied with the fact that our economy is not growing. we've got 30 million people living in poverty, 12 million people unemployed, and loadshedding — rolling blackouts — which have reached into every home and switched off the lights, switched off our factories and switched off our economy. south africans are realising that if they don't change the way they vote, south africa is going to end up in a very, very dark place.

south africa remains africa's most developed economy, from agriculture to mining to banking and tech — it still has vast potential. but 29 years after liberation from apartheid, few south africans would argue it's made the most of its assets. as the sun goes down on the cape town waterfront, it is still possible to glimpse mandela's rainbow nation. upbeat, optimistic, intent on reconciliation. but when darkness falls, just a few miles away in khayelitsha township, the mood is as dark as the street lamps. so ijoined a patrol of law enforcement officers tasked

with crime prevention in an area wearily familiar with insecurity. when the lights are out, do you find that people stay indoors more? are fewer people on the streets? actually, there is fewer people on the streets. because of the darkness. cape town is the murder capital of a country which experienced 25,000 murders last year. criminal gangs, drugs and a policing system riddled with corruption and endemic poverty make for a poisonous cocktail, and the levels of suspicion and fear rise when the lights are out. what are you doing with this stuff? this was a routine bust. drugs and knives, but no violence. just the background noise of a society close to the edge. it's the two guys who smoke this.

what is this man that actually smoking here? immediately one can identify the criminal markings that's been installed on the inside of the premises. they see the number 28, one of the notorious prison gangs. and we came to this premises now, and we were able to remove some persons that shouldn't have been here. but in this case, you can see that this premises, this sports facility has really being stripped bare. you're looking at the light fixtures and the copper, all the copper cabling, all removed, the rafters, the light fittings, everything is gone. it's been stripped. it has been. so, unfortunately, this is happening throughout our facilities. and you'll find instances like this in loadshedding. and these facilities aren't protected and they are unfortunately ripe for the picking for these type of criminals and these gangs. south africans worry about the stability of their nation. back in 2021, there was widespread street violence

and looting after former anc presidentjacob zuma was jailed for defying the courts in his long—running battle over corruption charges. since then, there has been plenty of talk of a possible uprising of south africa's dispossessed. in hisjohannesburg h0, i met the country's most controversial and radical political leader. i'm telling you, there's going to be a revolution. let the grid collapse and let's see what's going to happen. let the grid collapse? i'm saying to you... how do you think south africans are going to feel hearing you say that? people who are losing theirjobs, people who have no income, and you just say to me... you are misinterpreting me, i'm saying to you, let the grid collapse as it is going to happen and see what's going to happen in this country. i'm not wishing it. i'm saying it's going to happen and you will see

what's going to happen. do you think that once the grid collapse, people are going to exchange roses with government? people are going to rise. and when they rise, there will not be any leader who will be leading them. they will be leaderless. there will be anarchy. there will be looting all over this country because nothing will be working. this man invited me to his khayelitsha home to meet his wife ruby and their two youngest children. how old are you? she's five. five? she's five years. five years? yes. it was evening. the power was out. and the anxiety was obvious. do you feel safe when there is no power? no, we don't. we don't, actually. what i do, i make sure that all the kids are inside the house firstly. and then we look the door and gate.

so that's how i feel when there is dark outside. so that's how i feel when i know that i am safe. all everybody must be inside. have you noticed that there is more crime when the power is off? yes. actually, it is... there's a lot of crime and there's a lot of screaming happening outside. so i hear screaming, everybody screaming when there's loadshedding outside. and, actually, even if you can go outside right now, it's very dark. it's very dark. do you fear for the future? because we're here in yourfamily home, you have young children. do you fear for the future? yes, i do. i do. i do, actually. i do a lot because i fear for her when it's late, she's crying. there's no electricity. we are using candles. so i do fearfor her, even for this one. yeah, ido.

peer through the darkness in khayelitsha and you see a state failing to deliver for many of its people. after 29 years in power, the anc risks being seen as the problem, not the solution. hello. you need a certain level of temperature to make clouds, and on thursday that temperature was 17 degrees. from a blue sky, sunny start to the day across the yorkshire

area, as soon as we hit 17, we started to get these cumulus clouds as the air started to rise. it hit a layer of warm air higher up in the earth's atmosphere, and that cloud then started to spread out, and by the time we got to the early afternoon, it had turned pretty cloudy. and that kind of thing you can see happening here on the satellite picture from thursday — look how this area of cloud just expands through the course of the afternoon. i'm showing you that because we're probably going to see a similar sort of thing happening on friday, as well. now, right now, quite a few patches of cloud still across areas of lincolnshire. otherwise, for most of us, we've got clear skies, and temperatures around seven to nine degrees celsius. now on friday, for many of us, it's going to be a sunny start to the day with those blue skies with us first thing in the morning. late morning, that's when we hit 17 degrees, that's when we start to see clouds develop. and i think probably parts of yorkshire again prone to seeing some of those clouds spreading across the skies. same too probably across parts of the north midlands. northwest scotland have a bit more cloud, a few more breaks

for northern ireland. for most, though, it's a dry day with sunny spells and temperatures still into the low 20s in the warmest spots — it will feel pleasant if you're outside. into the weekend, we do have a cold front that's going to be running into our area of high pressure that will be affecting northern areas. so expect more in the way of cloud for scotland, a bit of patchy rain, too, for orkney, shetland, the western isles and the highlands, too. and this air flowing into north scotland is actually quite chilly, so temperatures just 12 degrees through the afternoon in lerwick on saturday. further south, more sunshine and, ifanything, it's going to be a warmer day with more of us seeing temperatures into the low 20s — probably peaking at around 23 or 24 degrees. heading into sunday, the high pressure is still there. and again, it's a case of sunny spells coming and going with the cloud. the highest temperatures continue to be across more western areas — so south and east wales, the southwest midlands, south west england — highs could hit around 23 or 24 degrees. but otherwise starting to turn just a little bit cooler across northern and eastern areas. that's the case, as well, for bank holiday monday —

temperatures just down a few degrees, but still feeling warm in that strong may sunshine. that's your latest weather, bye for now.

live from london. this is bbc news. as russian mercenaries from the wagner group say they are handing control of bakhmut over to moscow, bbc verify reveals the extent of the destruction caused by months of fighting. police injapan arrest a man suspected of killing four people in a rare gun and knife attack. and far—right militia leader stewart rhodes gets 18 years in prison for his role in the january 6th attack. newly released documents from the fbi reveal that queen elizabeth ii faced a potential assassination threat during a visit to the united states in 1983. hello, i'm vishala sri—pathma.

ukrainian officials have dismissed claims that the city