Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has engaged four security guards to man the Epping Forest pump site 24 hours following a string of thefts targeting transforners and electricity copper cables.

Epping Forest pump site is located in the Nyamandlovu area in Umguza district with water from the reservoir supplying villagers and parts of Bulawayo city.

Last month, unknown suspects broke a padlock leading to the premises and stole a 30- metre copper cable worth about US$5 000.

Mrs Marjorie Munyonga

The stolen cable, according to the Zinwa spokesperson, Mrs Marjorie Munyonga, was however not linked to the pumping of water to BCC and as such did not affect its daily supplies.

The site, commissioned by President Mnangagwa in February last year after Zinwa completed drilling of 20 boreholes, pumps between 7 and 8 megalitres of water to the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) per day.

There was no security at the site prompting Lupane district police commanders to raise concern.

Following the copper cable theft, officials from Zinwa and Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company (ZETDC) went down to Nyamandlovu to do a security survey and came up with strategies to ensure the security of the infrastructure.

It was as a result of the visit that the water authority decided to engage security guards to man the site.

“Following the continued theft of transformers and cables at Nyamandlovu pump stations, Zinwa and ZETDC have been to the ground to have a security survey to see how the infrastructure can be secured,” said Mrs Munyonga.

She said since the deployment of security guards at the site, there has not been any suspicious movements or reported cases of theft.

“On the Zinwa side, we have deployed four trained security guards to man the premises and infrastructure 24 hours,” said Mrs Munyonga.

Theft of copper cables now attracts a mandatory 10- year jail term.

Epping Forest pump site (Photo credit: getty images)

Government has been losing well over US$2 million to theft and vandalism of infrastructure every year with power utility Zesa Holdings as well as National Railways of Zimbabwe being the worst affected.

In 2019, Zesa acquired industrial grade enterprise drones in order to curb the scourge which has been described as economic sabotage.

During the first quarter of 2022, 15 cases of copper theft from NRZ infrastructure were reported resulting in the company losing 1 067 58kg of copper.

Cables telecommunications firm, Telone has not been spared as in 2021 it lost US$1, 5 million due to network disruptions as a result of vandalised infrastructure.

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