- Zimbabweans suffer energy crisis due to constraints from ZESA.
- Residents of Harare to pay for stolen transformer and cables.
It has been discovered that residents in Harare West who are experiencing power outages because of worn-out electrical lines are being compelled to crowdfund for repairs. Residents in the Harare West constituency were paying for the purchase and replacement of stolen transformers, Harare West Member of Parliament Joanah Mamombe stated during a Parliament Question and Answer session.
“Residents in the Harare West Constituency have been informed that the lack of electricity is due to the age of the power transmission cables.
The replacement of those underground wires is currently being funded in large part by the inhabitants, according to Mamombe.
“I would like to know what is going to happen to the contributions, are they going to be returned after replacing the cables and other equipment,” Mamombe asked the Minister of Energy and Electricity Development, Soda Zhemu.
Nonetheless, the Energy Minister has stated that residents who assist in the replacement and purchase of electrical accessories when ZESA does not have any in stock are entitled to full payment from the parastatal.
Damaged cables may be the source of a power deficit, but let me be clear that it is not government policy for residents whose cables have developed issues to purchase those cables on their own. ZESA, a parastatal, is intended to handle this task, Zhemu stated.
“Equipment procurement by parastatals is in the public domain through PRAZ, therefore it occasionally may take a while due to the processes,” he continued. So, occasionally the locals themselves may offer to purchase those wires or transformers.
“ZESA, then, requires that those residents who would have bought such devices produce a letter stating that they are doing so freely and stating how much they have used to buy such equipment and that money is refunded through power rates.”