Some residents in parts of Pumula, Bulawayo, have gone for more than four months without electricity following an incident that damaged electrical cables and a transformer servicing at least 121 households.
The residents say several attempts to engage the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) have not yielded results, leaving them in the dark for months.
Airing their grievances at a community meeting hosted by the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) on Wednesday, the residents said the outage has made it difficult to carry out basic daily activities that require electricity.
One resident, who identified herself as Gogo Mabhena, said the situation has become particularly difficult for elderly people who rely on medication that needs refrigeration.
“We have gone for a very long time without electricity. Some of us are now old and we have pills and injections that we take periodically. Some of this medication needs to be stored in refrigerators,” she said.
“How safe is it to take such sensitive substances for storage to neighbours? They need extra care.
“Furthermore, every morning we have to bother those same neighbours and ask them to charge our phones for us. Of course people may agree on some days, but at some point you can tell that you are now bothering someone.”
Another resident, Lucky, said they have made several appeals to the power utility but there has not been a positive outcome.
“At first we were asked to pay US$13 per household because they said the cables had been damaged. They restored them and we were only reconnected for a week,” he said.
“After that we were asked to pay US$37 per household again because they said the transformer needed to be replaced. Our community has many elderly people who cannot afford that amount of money. We really need some sort of intervention.”
BPRA Ward 17 chairperson, Elias Nyathi, said they have tried various avenues to seek assistance but none have produced results so far.
“We have spoken to different people from ZESA but we have not gotten any breakthrough yet. We even tried our local MP, Sichelilesile Mahlangu, but nothing much has changed,” Nyathi said.
“Our elders do not have the amount requested. We need assistance. We sincerely believe that it is unjust to make people buy new transformers because in some instances it is not their fault that they break down or stop working completely. We really need help with our current plight.”
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