I know people who live in good houses in affluent parts of one of the largest cities in South Africa, and they don't have electricity 24/7 http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/loadshedding/description.
Load shedding's occurrences have also only been something more recent (past few months).
For the good part of the last 3 years it's hardly been there (so unnoticeable one would probably say power is hardly/never cut). Its just been more impactful in the past few months & the last few months of last year.
Generators/Inverters aren't rare in the suburbs or in the further outlying areas. At least not anymore. Not everyone, but one could hear someone else's close by/a neighbors.