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For the past three nights I have been walking into a dark home — and waking up to the same darkness. It was like a curse had hit our neighbourhood. No power for a marathon 36 hours, and in the absence of any fault, that should have been a record of some sort.
What was heartening, though, was that the power shortages were hitting home in the week that Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, had arrived in town and made a number of pledges and promises.
He said he was not in town to see if he will invest in Zimbabwe, he was actually had come to give assurances that he will invest in Zimbabwe. Cement, power generation and coal extraction were the three mentioned areas of interest.
Heartening in the sense that come next year, Dangote’s billions will start trickling in, and probably by the end of that year, or maybe two or three years later, the marathon 36 hours of no power will be a thing of the past. That is the height of optimism, if you will ask me.
Disheartening, too.
Because it was the same week that Zesa, the Zimbabwe Electricity Sometimes Available utility, had taken acres of space in national newspapers, announcing that power generation at Kariba will have to be reduced, in light of the fast dwindling water levels in the dam.
There a number of lessons to be drawn from the Zesa statement: first, probably the most glaring observation is that no-one cared to do a hydrological assessment of the Zambezi River prior to embarking on the US$533 million upgrade of the Kariba South Hydro-Power project being undertaken by the Chinese.
Now if the water levels in the Zambezi River are that depressed, that power generation at Kariba has to be reduced, and given that the rainfall forecasts for the coming season are not that rosy, what are the chances that Kariba South Hydro, even if comes to full completion, will ease our power woes?
The second observation that comes out of the Zesa statement is that we seem to be focusing on finite sources of power generation, when our focus should be on infinite sources, like solar power. What happened to the Gwanda Solar Project?
Today we might be excited about the Dangote billions, but we seem to be short-sighted. Dangote is interested in coal extraction, which by all means and purposes, is a finite resource. Why cant we persuade Mr Dangote and his investment team to look at other options of power generation, solar for instance? What will happen if the coal reserves that Mr Dangote want to extract run out? This could be next year, 10 years from now or 40 years from now?
When we look at the lifespan of a country, it is different from the lifespan of us, mere mortals. Whereas 40 years could be a lifetime for an individual, for a country, it is nothing. Most of us will remember the verve that gripped the country as diamonds were discovered in the Eastern Highlands — that is hardly 10 years ago when that discovery was made. But today, where is the hype? Where are the diamonds?
So as much as Mr Dangote would like to invest in power generation, let us softly persuade him to look at other renewable energy sources, after all the world is going green.
Then the other worrying aspect about the billions from Dangote is his penchant for cement. Maybe he has his vision and wisdom, probably he sees cement as the product of the future. In fact, you cannot talk of road refurbishment, infrastructure development, without talking of cement. Probably Mr Dangote sees the whole of Africa covered in cement.
But is cement our immediate need? Are we in short supply of cement? We have already have La Farge, Portland Cement and Sino-Cement, three companies that are already satisfying the country’s appetite for cement.
Arriving in the country a week after the President delivered the State of the Nation Address, in which he raised 10 points underpinning the road to recovery for the country, I would have thought that it would have been prudent to sit down with Mr Dangote and go through the 10 points with him. And see which of the 10 would appeal to him the most.
It goes without saying that Zimbabwe needs investors and as much as we need the investment, we should guide each other as to the areas where the investment is due and necessary. Zimbabwe is an agro-based economy and agriculture underpins whatever growth is to be realized out of our economy.
And it is not by mistake that the first two points of the 10 points relate to agriculture and how it can be revitalized and have value added to its products.
I would rather have Mr Dangote’s billions being poured into revitalizing our agriculture industry, it could be fertiliser manufacture or improving our water supply situation, especially in the face of the persistent droughts that are dogging us. Maybe an investment in irrigation equipment.
As much as we are saddled with power shortages, it would be more prudent to invest in finite sources of energy as mentioned earlier than in coal extraction, of which the lifespan of the coal deposits we might not be sure of.
Besides, we seem to be fixated with hydro-power when the signs around us are suggesting that the climate is changing and our rainfalls patterns are not as favourable as they used to be.
Or on a lighter note, we could have him buy Dynamos Football Club (remember he failed to buy Arsenal the other year).
It would really be heartening to have the De-Mbare supporters chanting Dangote De-Mbare. Dha-dha-dha, dhi-dhi-dhi.
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Online Reporter