×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Zesa’s new farmer headache

News
Newly-resettled farmers have created confusion in Zesa billing systems making it difficult for the power utility to know who to bill at farms, it has emerged. Zesa chief executive officer Josh Chifamba on Monday told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy that before the land reform programme, it was easy to bill the […]

Newly-resettled farmers have created confusion in Zesa billing systems making it difficult for the power utility to know who to bill at farms, it has emerged.

Zesa chief executive officer Josh Chifamba on Monday told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy that before the land reform programme, it was easy to bill the farm owner as the farm would be owned by one individual.

“One challenge we have on the farms is that before the land reform programme it was easy to bill a particular farmer,” said Chifamba.

“Now after the land reform programme, land has been apportioned to several people on one farm and we have more than one person consuming electricity on that farm.”

Chifamba said the problem was that it was difficult to know which farmer among the numerous farmers was supposed to be billed.

However, a member of the Mines and Energy committee, Peter Haritatos, who is also Muzvezve MP, said it was the task of legislators to discuss the way forward with the farmers so that they settled their electricity bills.

Committee chairperson Edward Chindori- Chininga urged Zesa to engage farmers’ unions to resolve the issue.