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| Cllr Mnayanga |
…accuse power utility of ‘sabotaging’
Masvingo water supply
Moses Ziyambi
Two Zanu PF Masvingo Masvingo
Urban councillors have this evening demanded that Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority Masvingo manager Jacqueline Hlatswayo resign with immediate effect
for allegedly dabbling in opposition politics and sabotage.
This was heard in a full council
meeting held at the Civic Centre a while ago.
The drastic call comes in the
wake of a drastic reduction in the city’s water supply levels due to poor
electricity feed into the intake tower at Bushmead which has seen only one pump
being used, instead of two.
While making a contribution
during the adoption of minutes from the Public Works Committee, Ward 10 Cllr
Sengerai Manyanga said Hlatswayo, whom he called a liar, must be made to resign
with immediate effect.
“She is sabotaging us, she is
sabotaging council and residents. She must resign. We must go and present our
case to the Minister of State (for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution
Ezra Chadzamira) and make sure she is forced to go. That other year she lied to
us that she was going to connect us to another line with better voltage. We
must take action. I am even ready to occupy her office and I will not leave. Kana
gurokuro richidambuka ngaridambuke,” charged Manyanga.
He was supported by his Ward 8 counterpart
Against Chiteme who accused Hlaswayo of dabbling in opposition politics.
“She is out to smear council and
incite residents against us. We must engage the Minister of Energy (and Power
Development Soda Zhemu) and tell him that your manager here is no longer doing
her job; she is doing politics. She is running ZESA like her own private
company which she can close at any time she wants,” charged Chiteme.
Earlier on, Acting Town Clerk
Edward Mukaratirwa had reported that ZESA was not cooperating with regards to
the replacement of a broken down transformer which is blamed for the crisis.
“There is a tendency at ZESA
yekuvharirana panze (sabotage). Some residents approached us to offer
assistance to replace the transformer but we did not get any cooperation from
ZESA. Again, Delta Beverages Masvingo offered to buy the transformer but when
we requested for specifications of the transformer from ZESA, we did not get
the information,” said Mukaratirwa.
This was also corroborated by
Mayor Collen Maboke who said Delta had also approached him complaining that
ZESA was failing to cooperate, and their production at their factory in the industrial
areas was getting severely affected.
In the Afternoon, TellZim had
approached Hlatswayo at her office but she said she was not allowed to talk to
the press, and referred all questions to the power utility’s national corporate
communications head Prisca Utete who had not responded to questions emailed to
her by the time of writing.
