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Moffat Mungazi
Post Reporter
RESIDENTS and businesses in Vumba and surrounding areas are enduring total blackout following an outage that was caused by vandalism and heavy rains that pounded the vicinity.
The power outage has mainly affected Vumba, Burma Valley, Fern Valley and Zimunya.
In a notice to the public today, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) said it is working on resolving the issues.
The power utility said customers can expect normal service to be restored by mid-next week.
“A fault has occurred in the Vunba area, which has affected a hotel and leisure business in that location. Areas affected by this fault include Vumba, Burma Valley, Fern Valley and Zimunya. Five kilometres of an 11km line feeding the said area was stolen. The area experienced numerous faults caused by heavy rains where we had 12 poles that fell and required replacement. There have been numerous efforts to resolves the issue.
“While we had initiated our normal procurement process and were ready to restore supplies, there was another case of vandalism of a transformer in Vumba. The utility has managed to source the critical materials to re-power the affected areas back. We have initiated the commencement of the works and a continuous way-leave clearance to help reduce damages due to faults,” reads the notice.
ZETDC said vandalism has become a menace and the power utility is battling to keep up with the replacement of stolen power lines and transformers.
In 2023, a total of 1 569 cases of vandalism and theft were reported. Of these cases, 172 arrests were made and 33 were convicted.
The power utility urged all stakeholders to protect electrical infrastructure from vandalism.
Online Reporter