Residents to demonstrate against ZESA

PRESS RELEASE

Date:               24 October 2011

RESIDENTS TO DEMONSTRATE AGAINST ZESA

Bulawayo residents under the auspices of Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) will on Thursday 27 October 2011 stage a demonstration against the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), protesting poor service delivery by the company and demanding the return of the Bulawayo Thermal Power Station to the residents. The demonstration will begin at 1000hrs at the large City Hall and proceed to the ZESA Regional Offices where a petition will be handed to ZESA regional management.

Central in the objectives of the demonstration is the return of the Bulawayo Thermal Power Station into the hands of residents through the Bulawayo City Council (BCC). Residents believe that if the BCC assumes control of the power station, it will do better in ensuring that the people of Bulawayo get better access to electricity at lower prices.

The grievances that residents have with ZESA’s conduct include high tariffs, unscheduled load shedding, slow reaction to faults, failure to follow the ruling of the Competition and Tariffs Commission (CTC), disconnections for households with outstanding bills and failure to compensate people whose properties were damaged by power surges.

The demonstration will be held on the first anniversary of another demonstration against ZESA that was held on 27 October in 2010. A year on, ZESA has made no progress in improve its service delivery, with standards sliding further while the parastal’s executives drive luxury cars and earn fat salaries. On the other hand, residents continue to spend long hours without electricity, spending fortunes on candles and firewood. The parastal has also failed to appreciate the dire economic situation that the country finds itself in, charging exorbitant tariffs when most people are unemployed while those who are employed are earning paltry salaries. Also, ZESA has made no effort to consider the plight of disadvantaged sectors of society such as senior citizens, pensioners and orphans whose electricity is also disconnected when they fail to pay bills.

The demonstrations is thus aimed at demanding:

• The return of the Bulawayo Thermal Power Station to the ownership of the people of Bulawayo
• Full compliance with the ruling of the Competition and Tariffs Commission (CTC) to reduce charges by 43 percent.
• Compensation for all people whose properties were damaged by power surges
• Reduction in load shedding and adherence to load shedding schedules.
• Exemption of disadvantaged people such as the elderly and orphans from immediate power disconnections for failure to meet payment obligations.
• That ZESA should work on its flawed billing system and stop estimating bills.