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NewsDay

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Zesa, council descend on ratepayers

News
Bulawayo residents have accused the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) and the city council of seeking to raise employees’ bonuses by cutting supplies to defaulters. Zesa and council embarked on massive disconnections of electricity and water starting from Thursday last week leaving residents in the dark amid fears of outbreak of diseases such as cholera. […]

Bulawayo residents have accused the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) and the city council of seeking to raise employees’ bonuses by cutting supplies to defaulters.

Zesa and council embarked on massive disconnections of electricity and water starting from Thursday last week leaving residents in the dark amid fears of outbreak of diseases such as cholera.

The disconnections by Zesa came hard on the heels of intensive load-shedding, which has virtually left residents with only a few hours’ supply.

Residents have viewed the two institutions’ actions as a way of raising money to pay their employee’s bonuses and described it as a cruel decision by the two service providers.

Bulawayo mayor Thaba Moyo and Zesa spokesperson Fullard Gwasira could not comment on the matter yesterday as they were not reachable on their mobile phones. But Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association coordinator Roderick Fayayo said “there was no need for the service providers to embark on such a cruel act”.

“Instead they should have engaged residents to agree on a payment plan than to resort to disconnections,” he said.

“Most people are out of work due to the massive deindustrialisation of the city rendering them incapable of paying the bills, which are in fact exorbitant.”

Bulawayo Residents’ Association chairman Winos Dube yesterday urged the two institutions to be sympathetic with residents who are going through trying times.

Dube urged residents to approach the service providers to make arrangements to settle their bills.