Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)

Statement on ZESA's unrelenting power cuts

Date:                     14 May 2012

Contact:               Emmanuel Ndlovu

                              Programmes and Advocacy Manager

                              Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)

Subject:                 ZESA ripping residents off

It is indeed disheartening that more than a decade after The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) began its severe load shedding routine; the utility still has not come up with alternatives for increased power generation to residents. The utility seems to be taking comfort in that residents have, through their own, started to spend their hard earned and merger wages on power substitutes like generators, jelly stoves, gas and solar power panels while ZESA seems content with the same means of power generation as before.

 The authority recently announced that it will be intensifying power rationing to as much as 9 hours per day for each household this winter. The power utility has also released new load shedding schedules in some parts of Bulawayo, a reflection that the company is unwavering in its move.

Despite the increasing costs to rate payers, and some of the deals ZESA has embarked on with countries like Botswana, this seems to have done little to ease the power shortages and ZESA continues to blame everything on vandalism and failure by residents to pay their bills.

Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of residents are still on fixed rates despite a commitment by ZESA to install prepaid meters in every household to ensure that no household pays more than they have used. In light of this oversight, why has ZESA not been able to calculate how much extra money it is making from fixed rates of residents who still pay even when they go for long hours without electricity? Why are the figures always one sided and never reflective of how short changed the residents have been for the last decade plus years.

Recently, a ZESA power substation was gutted by fire in Emakhandeni leaving Luveve, Lobhengula, Magwegwe, Emakhandeni and other surrounding areas without power. It has been more than a week since the outage, but residents are still in the dark. What is troubling is that, come month end, these residents are expected to pay their full bills at fixed rates. BPRA believes that residents can only feel comfortable paying for a service that they are guaranteed to get.

It is time that ZESA and the authorities that be faced reality and accepted that the problem is way out of their league. New players must come into the fold before the whole system totally collapses.

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Mr Emmanuel Ndlovu

Programmes and Advocacy Manager

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)

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