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New farmers accused of bleeding Zesa

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A TOP official at the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has accused resettled farmers of bleeding the power utility, by failing to pay their bills with some illegally reconnecting themselves to the national grid after being switched off for non-payment.

A TOP official at the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has accused resettled farmers of bleeding the power utility, by failing to pay their bills with some illegally reconnecting themselves to the national grid after being switched off for non-payment.

BY NUNURAI JENA

ZETDC is a subsidiary of Zesa Holdings.

Speaking at a Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ)-organised meeting in Chinhoyi last Friday, Zesa Northern Region general manager Tichaona Chikuvira said in some instances, the issue was politicised such that their employees were now afraid to get into the farms to disconnect unpaid consumers.

“Those who have electricity in farm houses they often illegally switch on the electricity once they are switched off for non-payment and that is a big problem and sometimes when our workers try to do their work – the situation is politicised,” he said without elaborating.

Chikuvira also bemoaned the effects of vandalism and theft of copper cables, adding that Zesa was now switching to aluminium.

CCZ executive director Rosemary Siyachitema told the gathering that consumers should hold service providers accountable because it is their constitutional right.

Siyachitema said they were lobbying parliamentarians to pass the Consumer Protection Bill to ease some of the problems being faced by consumers.