Zimbabwe's debt-crippled power utility plans to get tough

Feb 14, 2012, 15:18 GMT

Harare - Threatened with being cut off from electricity imports from its neighbours for non-payment, Zimbabwe's state-owned power utility said on Tuesday it would cut off hundreds of top politicians and civil servants who refuse to pay their bills.

The move comes after Energy Minister Elton Mangoma was castigated in parliament after reports that poor people were being disconnected from the power grid for arrears as little as 30 dollars, while senior officials had not been paying their electricity bills for years.

'We will start disconnecting all cabinet ministers and MPs (members of parliament) who are not paying,' Mangoma said. 'There are no sacred cows.'

The minister said unpaid bills by top politicians and senior civil servants accounted for a significant part of the 540 million dollars customers owed to the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)

Coming in at the head of the list was a provincial governor, Christopher Mushowe, who was said to owe ZESA 145,000 dollars. Mushowe did not respond to requests for comment.

The ministry itself was said to be in the red to the tune of 30,000 dollars.

Mangoma's disclosures came as he warned that neighbouring Mozambique had threatened to stop imports from its giant Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam for non-payment of 90 million dollars.

'That is one debt that we have got to service because if we do not, our major source of power will go away,' he said. Zambia is also owed 70 million dollars.

Zimbabwean homes, businesses and hospitals suffer long power cuts daily as ZESA can produce only 1,300 megawatts each day. Average daily demand is about 2,200 MW. The country has been turning to its neighbours for power since 2000.

ZESA said it is planning to distribute 5.5 million energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs, and is also introducing pre-paid electricity meters.