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Gabriel Masvora
POWER utility, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, is a very important entity in the economic jigsaw puzzle of this country.
In fact, it is the centre on which most economic activities gravitate.There is no way we can talk about improvement in production or rather new investments without addressing the issue of power.
Countries worldwide have invested huge amounts of money in power generation to make sure that they can then absorb any growth.
The ideal situation for any country is to have excess power so that any new developments can then just fall into line.
Power is such a support service that in some cases it outweighs real raw materials in terms of importance.
As the country pushes ahead with its quest to see the implementation of its economic blueprint – Zim Asset – power then becomes a necessary catalyst that has to play a central role.
Therefore, in this case, Zesa is such an integral player in the implementation of the economic blueprint that any coughing on the part of this parastatal will send everything down the chain sneezing.
The company did well to tap income from the people and industry in general by introducing prepaid electricity.
If the accounts of the company were to be made public today they will definitely show improved inflow of revenue since they introduced this concept.
We must give the company and all those who came with the idea a small pat on the back.
It means that the company is now getting money from electricity users in advance.
People and industry are buying power in advance and Zesa can use the money to improve its infrastructure well before those who have paid the money have used the power.
What better way to run a business – being paid in advance when most companies are forced to supply and get paid months or even years later.
We have companies that are sitting on sorry debtor’s books because of customers who are not paying their dues.
But in spite of this huge cashflow, Zesa has since a few weeks ago, started to exhibit signs of a failing entity again which must be a shock to the thousands of people who are giving this company money in advance.
All of a sudden the frequency of load- shedding is beyond comprehension.
The company wants the nation to believe that because it is now winter, demand for power has gone up hence these long periods without power.
Does this argument hold water or it has become a tired excuse that even kindergarten children can challenge?
It has become an argument the nation is forced to swallow almost regularly during this time of the year.
The sudden change in the load shedding from a few months ago, does not really support this idea.
If you can monitor the frequency and duration of these days’ load shedding you can get the feeling that this is beyond this winter excuse.
To be frank it suddenly looks like the country was constructing another huge city, the size of Harare, which was suddenly switched on a few weeks ago resulting in this strain on the country’s generation capacity.
Surely Zesa must start telling the nation the truth. What logic is there to switch off electricity at 4 am. What logic is there to make some areas go without power the whole day?
And the biggest of all is what sort of a company prides itself in failing to provide a service after collecting people’s money.
This is tantamount to fraud. What reason will you give to someone who has already paid for the power but not getting it.
Zesa was well known for its heavy handedness in the past, switching off those with debts without thinking twice.
What now that they are failing to provide a service when they have already pocketed the money?
What is so surprising is whether what Zesa is now doing is simple load shedding or a manifestation of fully blown failure on the part of this important company.
Zesa management must sit down and evaluate their performance and seriously ask themselves whether what they are doing is adding any value to efforts to revive this economy.
There are so many projects that are laid out in Zim Asset.
The country and the mining sector are seized with the idea of value adding minerals.
This, in some cases, will involve construction of high energy users like smelters and it’s obvious their success will depend on availability of power.
There is a push for even small projects to start pushing up production.
But how can this be achieved without power. Zesa’s problems are triggering even greater problems for this country.
We can no longer believe this winter excuse as if it is something that came from nowhere.
Winter has been there way back before Zesa even existed and why was the company not taking measures to minimise the problem.
After all revenue collection has improved. All those queues everyday as people put money into the company.
But imagine the unfairness of waiting in a long queue, pay money and get home only to find that what you paid for is not available.
As the country pushes ahead with Zim Asset implementation maybe it is time crucial companies such as Zesa are called to account on what they have done to ensure that the blue print succeeds.
In reality companies like Zesa have contributed more to the downfall of Zim Asset than to its success.
If the country wants to see the success of this blueprint, maybe it is time to really put order in such companies to ensure that they realign themselves with national goals and targets.
Maybe it is time for every important company in the country to say how much they have contributed to the success of the blueprint and I am convinced Zesa will not find anything good to say.
Online Reporter