Zimbabwe: Zesa redflags southern region for vandalism

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Zimbabwe: Zesa redflags southern region for vandalism

6:10 CAT | 23 Nov 2021

File photo: The Chronicle

Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has raised concern over rampant cases of vandalism and theft of electricity cables and other infrastructure that has resulted in increased power outages in parts of the country’s southern region.

Business and domestic consumers recently accused Zesa of poor service for the frequency of outages and delays in attending to faults.

ZETDC Southern Region acting general manager Engineer Gibson Kasipo said vandalism of electricity infrastructure is crippling implementation of new projects in the region as available funding is being channeled towards replacing vandalised equipment.

“At the moment vandalism and theft of Zesa equipment is on the increase. The vandals are targeting transformer oil and coils. Power supply is greatly compromised by increasing cases of theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure that has resulted in unplanned electricity outages.

Theft and vandalism of electrical infrastructure has resulted in increased faults, resulting in frequent and long power outages that some clients perceive as load shedding,” said Eng Kasipo.

“We have lost over 30 transformers valued at US$230 980 in the period under review. During the same period, we also lost about 2 206kgs of overhead copper conductors valued at US$44 130 and 1 180m of underground copper cables valued at US$9 246. In total we have lost US$284 356 from vandalism of Zesa infrastructure,” he said.

The power utility is pursuing a number of strategies, including increased patrols, special operations in liaison with other security agencies, and awareness campaigns to try and contain the menace.

“The power utility is appealing for community participation in the protection of electricity infrastructure in the interest of efficient service delivery. In the same vein, ZETDC is inviting whistle blowers to volunteer information that would lead to the arrest of perpetrators of theft and vandalism and a reward would be given in proven cases,” said Eng Kasipo.

Zesa recently announced that it had resorted to importing 400MW from Mozambique and Zambia to help ease the power crisis that has caused unending load shedding.

Zesa negotiated to import 280MW from Zambia and 180MW from Mozambique and will start receiving the power once it has cleared outstanding payments to the two countries’ power utility companies.

Zimbabwe’s major power generation facilities are the 1 050MW capacity Kariba South Power Station, a hydro-electricity plant, and the coal fired 900MW Hwange Power Station.

Kariba South is not generating at full throttle due to limited water availability after two consecutive years of drought, while Hwange frequently breaks down due to aging infrastructure.

The Government is also with Zambia on the development of the Batoka Gorge project, which could provide an additional 1 200MW to the Zimbabwe grid.

Source: The Chronicle Zimbabwe