Zimbabwe: Power cuts affecting lives of indigenous workers
By Alan Rushesha – The continued power cuts perpetrated by the parastatal company- ZESA Holding has brought social and economic unrest to many self-employed people in Chitungwiza who relied heavily on this type of energy. Sekuru Madziva, a qualified welder felt deprived by the ongoing load-shedding schedules currently hitting the country. As he sat on a bench a few metres away from his make-shift workshop erected at his home, his face reflected a complete picture of someone who was distracted.
Sekuru Madziva continuously scratched his bald head whilst sipping to his favourite opaque beer.
‘I was sitting here for more than six hours,waiting hopelessly for them (ZESA) to switch on electricity so that I can continue with my work which is on standstill,’ said the ageing Sekuru Madziva who appeared to be still active.
Sekuru Madziva described his welding machine as a ‘money maker’ since it was responsible for fending his 12 grandchildren who were left behind by his two sons who went to seek for greener pastures in South Africa back in 2006. But now Sekuru Madziva is worried because he is somehow clueless on how to feed his ‘big family’ since he hardly earns anything from his job as a welder. ‘I have plenty of orders from my customers but now it surfaces as if
they (customers) have distanced away from my business since I could not comply to their requests and I have nothing to cash home.
‘So tell me what do i give to these innocent children?” he added whilst pointing at his five -year – old grandchild who was clad in a pair of trousers which was almost revealing his man-hood.
Although Sekuru Madziva was in possession of a petrol generator which seemed to have been ‘dumped’ in the workshop, it was not enough to run his welding machine owing much to its high consumption levels of energy.
“This (petrol) generator is just good as nothing because I cannot use it for welding,” he said.
According to a survey conducted by this reporter, a handful of the self-employed people expressed disgust at ZESA with some saying the effects of power cuts have caused marital disputes in their homes.
“My wife left me because I had seized bringing food on the table for the family.
“She even labelled me as a useless father and all I have is ZESA to blame,” fumed a carpenter who spoke on conditions of anonymity.
He also said his close relations with his landlord deteriorated as he had embarked on a ‘seek and hide game’.
“I am always on the run because I cannot pay rent in time,” he added.
Evidence is accumulating that, in some areas such as Chitungwiza electricity is only available for less than 16 hours on a single day thereby forcing some desperate self-employed people to work at night.
“It is not only Colgate (toothpaste) which prevents teeth from rotting. I have shifted from working on normal hours (day) to the late hours of the night,” jokingly said another carpenter, Tichaona Mponda.
The power shortages currently remains the country’s number one enemy and people have been urged recently to use the energy sparingly since the country’s two plants Hwange and Kariba have been reportedly failing to generate the required close to 2000 megawatts (MW).
Power cuts have become a regular occurrence in the country since the economic turmoil which hounded the country a few years ago.
