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NewsDay

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Disbanding Zesa not a solution

Columnists
“Zimbabweans across the country and in all spheres from housewives to businesspeople have a sad story to tell about the power cuts they experience every day in their homes and in the factories. “The solution might not come tomorrow, but the people of Zimbabwe deserve to know that we are working flat out to mitigate […]

“Zimbabweans across the country and in all spheres from housewives to businesspeople have a sad story to tell about the power cuts they experience every day in their homes and in the factories.

“The solution might not come tomorrow, but the people of Zimbabwe deserve to know that we are working flat out to mitigate the situation, which deteriorated way back due to non-investment in this critical sector.”

These were the words of Energy minister Elton Mangoma last week as he sought to pacify restless members of the public that the inclusive government is doing something about the crippling power cuts.

As part of the measures to address the power challenges, the government has announced plans to disband Zesa Holdings and replace it with another State-owned entity called National Grid Service Company as part of a restructuring exercise to make it efficient.

We are told this would result in a level playing field and allow the entrance of independent power producers.

The new entity will be responsible for transmission, market and systems operation. It will have “reserve supply” responsibility.”

From the look of the things, Mangoma appears to be reinventing the wheel and skirting around the deep-rooted problems at the power utility.

The current Zimbabwe Electricity and Transmission Distribution Company will become the Zimbabwe Distribution Company and be responsible for electricity distribution.

The other companies will be Zimbabwe Power Company, Zesa Enterprises and Powertel and will have separate boards reporting to government.

I ask the question: What will in essence change here? Is this not a case of old wine in a new bottle?

How will merely forming a new entity without proper structures and funding improve electricity generation?

How will this tackle issues of bureaucracy?

Given the lack of clear policy vision, chances of the new entity failing are very high.

Just not so long ago, the Ministry of Transport disbanded national airline Air Zimbabwe into two entities. But the benefits thereof are yet to be seen.

Has its service changed? No! Have policies changed? No! Has its battered image changed? No!

Thus merely unbundling institutions without proper mechanisms and resources to make them function is not helpful.

Unbundling should not be an end in itself, it should be a means to an end.

Admittedly Mangoma says no generation capacity has been created since 1984. Will the new company have the capacity to ensure new power generation? What this country needs is action and not mere plans on a piece of paper.

There are countless brilliant pieces of legislation that continue to gather dust because of failure to take them out of the boardrooms where they were crafted. Sadly all we hear from government officials is all promises and no delivery.

For how long shall we continue talking about tapping into solar energy without taking action?

For how long shall we talk about the Lupane coal bed methane gas project?

For how long shall we dream about generating power from the Bindura Gas Plant?

What of Batoka not to talk about the Great Inga hydro project proposed on Congo River? Could this be a case of much ado about nothing?

For starters, the power utility has a $400 million hole which came from defaulting energy consumers including government ministers who Mangoma sits with in Cabinet every week but apparently there is no clear strategy to recover the funds.

The much-talked-about prepaid meters remain an ambitious project the power utility is yet to implement.

All we hear is unending allegations of fraud during the tender process. When will the rot be addressed?

Zimbabwe requires at least 2 000 megawatts but is currently producing around 1 100MW resulting in load-shedding.

With industry operating way below full installed capacity, any increased demand in energy could leave the power utility backfooted.

It’s time the government started walking the talk. It’s not good enough to say this will be done and years later nothing would have been done.

Unfortunately for the general public, government officials always seem to have an excuse why there has not been progress on most critical projects.

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