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when they take their tobacco to the floors. It is such farmers that Zesa should give the benefit of doubt and allow them to carry out their operations,” he said.
Mr Khumalo said farmers were willing to pay their bills, but were let down by buyers like the Grain Marketing Board that did not pay on time.
“The same farmers also have health bills, school fees and a host of other commitments that require cash. They sometimes do not even have food to eat yet they have cash locked up somewhere,” he added.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union second vice president Mr Berean Mukwende said farmers could not pay the high bills charged by Zesa Holdings.
He said horticulture and other vegetables that some farmers grew just supplement their earnings and were not enough to pay bills.
“These charges have reached their current level because Zesa also converted Zimbabwe dollar era bills to the multiple currencies. They cannot even show where they started charging in US dollars,” said Mr Mukwende.
He said if a farmer had a bill of around US$60 000, it would not make sense to pay anything less than half of that amount, as Zesa did not accept it.
Mr Mukwende said it was worrisome that most of the bills were based on estimates. He said Zesa charges were the highest costs of production at US$700 to irrigate a hectare of wheat.
“This is a fixed charge that Zesa wants whether the electricity is there or not so many farmers have since opted out of wheat farming,” said Mr Mukwende.
Goromonzi farmer Cde Paddy Zhanda said the issue was not about Zesa Holdings demanding its money, but the absence of a clear policy on agriculture to protect farmers.
“People should rather be asking if it is viable for farmers to produce under such a difficult environment in which critical service providers such as Zesa are expected to give a service and then fail to get a payment.
“They are in business so farmers must pay like any other consumer, but in the absence of long-term funding the farmers cannot do it as they have to wait until they market their crops,” said Cde Zhanda.
He said the current Zesa charges were astronomical.
A manager at Albion Farm in Beatrice Mr Wellington Chatikobo felt Zesa was being insensitive to the farmers’ plight.
“We requested the power utility to wait for us to sell our tobacco and get their money through stop order but they just agreed in talking and proceeded to cut us off,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from Zesa were fruitless as management was said to be in a meeting.
Some Zesa officials have been leaking vital information about their clients to the media that have been running stories on how much senior officials in Government owe.
Online Reporter