Zesa under fire over disconnections

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RESIDENTS’ associations have condemned the move by Zesa Holdings to disconnect defaulting customers in some parts of Bulawayo’s Pumula high-density suburb as insensitive.

RESIDENTS’ associations have condemned the move by Zesa Holdings to disconnect defaulting customers in some parts of Bulawayo’s Pumula high-density suburb as insensitive.

LINDA CHINOBVA OWN CORRESPONDENT

Zesa is in the process of disconnecting defaulting customers in some parts of the suburb in a bid to push defaulters who are failing to pay bills believed to have accumulated to thousands of dollars.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association organising secretary Ambrose Sibindi said it was disheartening that Zesa was disconnecting power supply to defaulters at a time when the majority of the city’s residents were unemployed.

“It is depressing to learn that Zesa is embarking on such a move at a time when the country’s economy that is mainly affecting the people of Bulawayo, is unstable. Zesa is just revealing to us that it does not have people at heart and that is disappointing,” Sibindi said.

“We would expect them to be more lenient and patient with customers because it is not a secret that the majority of the residents are unemployed and they barely have any source of income.”

Sibindi said the defaulters were not only failing to pay Zesa, but other service providers and that proved that residents genuinely did not have the money. He said it was time Zesa speeded up the process of installing prepaid meters as this could ease residents’ power bills by confining them to only use what they can afford.

Bulawayo Residents’ Association chairperson Winos Dube said Zesa must not rush into cutting power supplies of defaulters, but must accept payment plans.

“Zesa must not rush into disconnecting electricity supply to defaulters but they must negotiate with the residents on how they will clear their debts,” he said.

“The residents in turn must try by all means to adhere to the agreements to avoid having their power supplies cut off due to failure to honour the agreement.”

Dube said service providers must not be quick to suspend their services to the public due to their failure to pay as it was well known that the general public are struggling to make ends meet.

He said both the public and service providers must develop a relationship that enables negotiations in a bid to ensure that all parties are comfortable.

Pumula councillor Clayton Zana said although Zesa’s move was to push defaulters to pay, it has to consider that the suburb is highly populated with elderly people who can barely afford anything.

“Despite Zesa’s move being aimed at pushing for payment, they must consider that the suburb is populated by the elderly who could barely afford anything. We hope they would be considerate and be patient with the defaulters,” he said.

Zesa southern regional manager Lovemore Chinaka said they did not shun negotiating, but when they negotiate they are guided by the customer’s payment history.

“We do not shun away from those who want to negotiate for payment plans. When we negotiate we are guided by the payment history of the subscriber. If you have in the past had problems in paying we will not be very flexible, but if you have been faithful we negotiate to a level where the subscriber is comfortable,” he said.

Chinaka said the installation of prepaid meters was a long process, but said the entire city would be using prepaid meters by the end of 2014.