BY RICHARD MUPONDE
NATIONAL power distributor, the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZETDC), has embarked on an exercise to remove copper cables and replace them with aluminium conductors along the Bulawayo-Plumtree grid to curb vandalism, which has often times plunged the border town in darkness.
The programme has left the border town going for two weeks without electricity, affecting business and delivery of essential services.
Plumtree has been dogged by intermittent power outages for years, with the town having to go without electricity for more than two days a week.
Faced by the dilemma of constantly attending to copper cable thefts, mainly on a stretch between Bulawayo and Figtree, the ZETDC moved in over the weekend to remove the cables and substitute them with aluminium conductors.
The other stretch from Figtree to Plumtree has already been fitted with aluminium cables.
Zesa Holdings Plumtree area manager, Victor Ndawana, revealed the new development to members of the Civil Protection Unit after an inquiry was made by Bulilima acting district administrator, Nyasha Majonga, early this week.
“I have been talking to engineer Nkiwane about progress and he said the repairs on the transformer were progressing well and likely to be completed on Friday. The removal of copper cables is now complete and re-wiring using aluminium cables begins tomorrow and is likely to be completed on Friday (tomorrow),” Ndawana said.
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The repairs and replacement of the copper cables with aluminium has been seen as the panacea to power outages, which have dogged the border town.
Recently, the border town and its surrounding environs went for close to a week without electricity after thieves stole a 1,2 kilometre-long copper cable at Cyrene High School in Figtree.
Last year alone, Zesa Holdings reportedly lost US$5 million worth of equipment due to vandalism, primarily copper cables and transformer oil, both of which are sold on the black market or smuggled into neighbouring South Africa.
