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MDC condemns power outages
Movement for Democratic Change
June 01, 2010

The MDC is seriously concerned by the continued power cuts that have inconvenienced citizens and virtually brought business to a standstill across the country. The continued power supply disruptions by ZESA have not only brought unbearable and unnecessary hardships on the ordinary people, but are a threat to industry at a critical moment in the revival of the country's industrial sector.

The incessant and ceaseless power cuts have resulted in most commercial entities facing massive business losses and being forced to lay-off workers due to low production. The power utility's load-shedding schedules are shambolic while the intermittent power supplies have damaged electrical gadgets in people's homes and heavy duty equipment in our struggling manufacturing industries. The entire production sectors, including our farming, manufacturing and mining concerns have all been seriously affected by these power outages.

It is no wonder that the majority of Zimbabweans are wondering whether they will be able to watch the historic World Cup to be held in South Africa in less than two weeks time. It is shameful for Zesa to embarrass the nation and short-change citizens at such a historic moment for the country, the region and the continent. ZESA, which like any parastatal has been plagued by endemic corruption and colossal ineptitude, has short-changed innocent Zimbabweans who continue to receive astronomical power bills, even in cases where a household or a business premises would have had no access to power for a whole month.

This is daylight robbery by a parastatal that is rewarding its senior officials with hefty salaries and allowances for keeping the ordinary people in the dark. As a party, we restate our resolution of the national council of 16 May 2010, that we find unacceptable the charges being levied by public utilities. These charges are high and bear no reflection to a cost structure but rather to high wages and allowances that are being paid to senior management.

The MDC calls upon the Ministry of Energy and Power Development to urgently look into the state of affairs at ZESA with the hope of expeditiously making sure that Zimbabweans have access to electricity. Turn-around plans and astronomical bills have failed to address the issue and ordinary citizens continue to be short-changed every-day even though they are paying through the nose for a non-existent service.

The inclusive government should urgently look into these power outages as a matter of priority as they threaten the survival of the industries that we want revived for the benefit of the country and its citizens. Zimbabweans want real change. They want dignity, prosperity, hope, security and freedom. Zimbabweans will never load-shed their demand for basic services.

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