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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) Holdings is in the process of buying a new vehicle fleet to address problems that have resulted in consumers transporting technicians to attend to faults.

Legislators raised concerns that Zesa technicians were requesting for fuel and even transport from clients to attend to faults particularly in farming areas.

Parliamentarians on Wednesday asked Power and Infrastructural Development Minister Zhemu Soda if it was now part of the power utility’s operation procedures to ask clients to aid them as they execute their duties.

“What I know for now is that Zesa is procuring a lot of vehicles and they have since placed an order with Isuzu although it is taking longer for the vehicles to be delivered. The vehicles are coming in small batches yet people want service and they are calling for service in numbers,” said Minister Soda.

He said it was not Government’s policy that clients donate services to Zesa technicians to use for repairs or any work related to electricity.

Minister Soda said farmers, however, offer vehicles and even fuel for Zesa technicians to fast track attendance to their faults.

“This is witnessed especially by farmers. The farmers kindly ask for technicians to come and assist them by sending transport so that they immediately attend to their problem because sometimes they are told that technicians would have gone out to attend to other faults,” said Minister Soda.

He said the power utility company now demands that members of the public who offer services write an affidavit confirming that they have provided technicians with either transport or fuel.

“What is happening now is that for any technician, who volunteers to do such a job, they are supposed to sign a document that they are volunteering to offer those services as well as fuel to Zesa and this is for accountability purposes,” he said.

“People are not forced to do that but they do it voluntarily. What is happening right now is, those who volunteer to assist Zesa are supposed to complete those documents and there should be supervision to ensure that work is properly done. Sometimes Zesa workers may also go to Zesa and claim that they used their own fuel after being given that fuel by the customer.”

In urban areas consumers also volunteer to buy power cables and transformers to fast-track connectivity and the utility company reimburses them with electricity units.

-@nqotshili