Chronicle Editor
Tafadzwa Chibukwa, Chronicle Reporter
SOME residents of Mpopoma in Bulawayo have gone for two days without electricity after thieves stole copper cables in the suburb.
The incident comes barely a day after thieves stole copper cables in Entumbane suburb resulting in an outage.
The stolen cables connect three residential flats in the suburb. Bulawayo has of late been hit by a series of power outages mostly due to copper cable theft.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) is now in the process of replacing copper cables with aluminium ones.
According to residents, the thieves first struck on Monday night and left the cables hanging.
A resident, Mrs Gertrude Moyo said when they experienced a power outage on Monday at around 1 AM, she thought it was just a minor fault.
“When I woke up the following morning, I saw copper cables hanging from pylons and we reported the matter to Zesa,” she said.
Mrs Moyo said thieves are now taking advantage of the power blackout to steal from them at night.
“This is not the first time that we are experiencing a prolonged power cut due to copper thieves cutting the cables resulting in disruption of power supply. Last month, the thieves pounced in another section of the suburb street and stole cables resulting in residents going for four days without electricity,” she said.
Mrs Moyo said they are now worried about the safety of their children after thieves left the wires hanging from the pylons.
“The thieves left the cables exposed, which is now a danger, especially to our children who might end up being electrocuted,” she said.
Following the latest incidents, residents are now thinking of reviving their neighbourhood watch committee to conduct night patrols
“We used to have a neighbourhood watch committee that used to patrol every night. As residents we would then contribute some money to pay them,” said Mr Stanslous Dube, the chairperson of the residents’ association in ward 9.
“This is not the first time for us to experience cable theft. We have had cable theft in the past and Zesa had to change the copper cables and replaced them with aluminium ones to reduce such cases, but they couldn’t remove all the copper cables.”
Mr Dube said the thieves abandoned the cables after they were spotted by some alert residents who subsequently raised the alarm.
“When the thieves came at midnight, they disrupted the power supply and stole the cables. However, in the process of doing so, some residents in the area managed to wake up and alerted others. Upon seeing residents approaching, the suspects got into their getaway car with part of the loot and drove off at high speed,” he said.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) co-ordinator Mr Emmanuel Ndlovu said they are concerned over the rampant theft of copper cables.
“Copper has become an increasingly attractive commodity fuelling huge thefts that leave residents in the dark. The fact that only a few arrests related to copper cable thefts have been effected leads to more thefts,” he said.
Mr Ndlovu urged residents in the affected areas to work with police and ZETDC in surveillance and increasing security around power lines.
Ward 9 Councillor, Cllr Donaldson Mabuto said the permanent solution to the problem hinges on completely replacing copper with aluminium cables.
“The lasting solution to the problem we are facing is to change the cables in the whole suburb and replace them with copper cables. What is attracting these thieves is the copper, which they sell hence we just need to get rid of it,” he said.
ZETDC is seeking a review of the sentence for individuals convicted of stealing power cables and transformers from 10 years to 30 years.
Power cable thefts and transformer vandalism is prejudicing Zesa Holdings of more than US$2 million annually.
ZETDC requires more than US$14 million to procure intruder detection gadgets to fight the scourge that continues to bleed the power utility.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said they are investigating several cases of theft of copper cables in the city.
“We have intensified our night patrols and we also urge residents to assist us with information that could lead to the arrest of suspects,” he said.
Last May, police in Bulawayo arrested two serial copper cable, thieves, after using sniffer dogs to fish the two men out of a manhole while busy cutting copper cables.
Zesa Holdings has since invited whistle-blowers to curb the upsurge in vandalism and theft of electricity infrastructure witnessed in the last few months.
@Sagepapie14
Online Reporter