Bulilima power cables vandalised

Source: Bulilima power cables vandalised – NewsDay Zimbabwe

BY PATRICIA SIBANDA

BULILIMA residents are crying foul due to continuous power outages caused by vandalism of power cables in Hebrone and along Mangwe Road.

Donnie Godonga, a Bulilima resident, accused Zesa employees of vandalising the equipment.

“We seem to be having a problem of electricity cable-theft here but it is not clear if there are people from within our community or outsiders,” Godonga said.

“But to us, it appears to be something that is being done by people from within (Zesa) because where l stay in Hebrone, l saw them in the evening using a Zesa truck.

“It seemed like they were inspecting the wires because on that same night around 1 am, the cables were stolen.”

Godonga added: “My neighbour claims to have seen one of them on top of the pole and when they saw that they had been spotted, they jumped and ran away.

“We are suspecting Zesa workers as they know which area has copper cables and the one that has aluminium cables.

“These people target areas where there are copper cables only. They do not even touch the section with aluminium wires,” he said.

Zesa Plumtree manager Albert Ncube confirmed the cable theft in the area but could neither confirm nor deny the allegations that power utility workers were behind the vandalism.

“I will not lie to you but we are having a very big challenge concerning the vandalism of Zesa cables. All that needs to be done is for people to work together.

“To say our staff is involved, l really cannot comment on that because I am not in a position to do so,” Ncube said.