The decision by power utility Zesa to slash consumers’ bills, has been met with mixed feelings in Harare and Bulawayo, with some residents and their associations saying the reprieve was too small while others condemned the debt relief as a recipe for disaster.
Wonai Masvingise/Linda Chinobva
Other people interviewed yesterday said the real benefit would go to well-connected politicians who had huge unpaid bills at their private properties, including farms.
Zesa on Tuesday slashed domestic debts by $160 for every household while writing off a collective $80 million owed by farmers. The total bill relief for domestic consumers amounts to $90 million.
Early last year, former Energy and Power Development minister Elton Mangoma told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy that some ministers owed Zesa between $20 000 and $100 000 each at their farms and private homes.
Harare Residents’ Trust director Precious Shumba yesterday said the debt relief was likely to most benefit top government officials who were not ordinarily affected by power cuts.
“While this definitely affects the revenue inflows to the power utility’s coffers, the major beneficiaries of this relief are senior government officials and political party heavyweights, who owed Zesa huge amounts of money yet they have continued to use electricity on their farms and businesses, without load-shedding.
“But the ordinary electricity consumers have endured power disconnections over small amounts of money owed to Zesa. The poor have remained targets of load-shedding.”
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Shumba called on government to treat all citizens equally in accordance with the law and for Zesa to ensure that every household had a prepaid meter to ensure equality in the billing system.
Some consumers in Bulawayo said the debt relief was welcome, but should have been made larger.
“We owe a lot of money,” said Paul Moyo, a resident of Nketa suburb in Bulawayo. “Really they have done nothing. It’s like a drop in the ocean.”
Rainos Pakura, also from Nketa, however, said no matter how little the debt relief was, he was excited and hoped that there would be more bill cutting coming again soon.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association official Emmanuel Ndllovu said while the debt slash was welcome, the $160 write-off was insignificant.
