'Will the last person leaving the building please switch off the lights …'

Beacon of shame

This headline, along with “… and please release the dolphins” was a key catch-line in Port Elizabeth in the early 1980s as motor company after motor company chose to disinvest its interests in the country as a result of Apartheid.

The impact on the local economy and thousands of lives because of huge job losses was massive and subsequently there was a mass exodus of people leaving the city.

But, as ever in times of crisis, folk tried to make light of the situation and hence the “switch of the lights” catch-phrase was born.

Thirty-plus years later, the metro, and indeed, the entire country are facing another crisis – and that tongue-in-cheek catch-phrase of yesteryear is just as applicable.

In fact, it’s no longer tongue-in-cheek. It’s real.

There’s a national shortage of electricity, and right now, we are euphemistically enjoying load-shedding (Eskom just switches off our power with increasing abandon).

Without going into to the reasons why we’re facing a crisis (because that depends on who you listen to: our president – “it’s Apartheid”, or Eskom boss – “poor planning”), let’s just agree that a shortage of electricity is something that affects us all.


That ‘80s catch-phrase “will the last person leaving the building please switch off the lights” hit me hard this week when confronted with a photograph of the university’s focal 18-storey tower block in shining Blackpool-lights glory at 4am (see above).

Not just one or two lights that someone had inadvertently failed to switch off before leaving their offices at the end of a long working day, mind you, but the full 18 floors.

And since Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s North and South campuses are in the midst of a 720-hectare nature reserve there are no other man-made distractions – it’s just a sole tower block beaming out like a misplaced lighthouse in the midst of a national electricity crisis.

Not a good advert for us! And certainly no good for our already-depleted electricity supply.

I’d like to think that all the present load shedding tripped some switch that caused all the lights to accidentally come on, but I’m probably being naïve. But I’d really like to think the best of the staff members who work there. I cannot believe they’d deliberately all forget to turn off their office lights when leaving the building … (Though I am told that the light switch set-up in our main building means one switch is responsible for several offices which complicates matters).

Whatever the reason, we certainly don’t want a repeat paparazzi experience (but what was the photographer doing up at 4am, anyway?) with NMMU being branded as the bad guys in wasting the country’s precious resources.

The irony, of course, is that much of our research is aimed at conserving resources and seeking alternatives to the present Eskom energy crisis. We even have respect for the natural environment and taking responsibility as two of our values.

So, let’s heed the call of the early 80s … “will the last person leaving the building please switch off the lights”. Oh, you needn’t worry about the dolphins. Thankfully, they were released from Bayworld’s oceanarium a good few years ago.