Consistent electricity is more guideline than rule in South Africa, even on the outskirts for the capital city of Johannesburg. This ambiguity leaves residents either living in the dark or at the mercy of expensive and hazardous kerosene-based or coal-based fuels. One social entrepreneur however, has a plan to provide clean, safe, nearly free energy to even Johannesburg’s poorest citizens.
Storyhunter investigates Crosby Menzies’ efforts (via local spokesmen like Mthobisa Cebekhulu) to bring about an energy revolution through the distribution of satellite dish-shaped solar cookers in Soweto, one of the city’s poorest districts and the location of 2009’s sci-fi extravaganza, District 9.