It is 'not acceptable' that 80% of Zim have no electricity says Minister - Yeah right!

"A recent survey by the University of Zimbabwe, shows that of the 13,1 million in Zimbabwe, about eight million or 60 percent have no access to electricity," Energy and power development minister, Samuel Undenge said in a speech read on his behalf by his ministry's permanent secretary Partson Mbiriri.

"Surely, in this 21st century, we cannot continue to accept and take such situations as the norm," said the minister.

And the remaining 40% with access to electricity their access must be qualified - they are connected to the grid yes but are switched off 18 hours out of 24 hour-day.

"ZESA MOTO MUZHINJI!" (ZESA MORE ELECTRICITY!) was the power utility's slogan when it was formed by bring the various power companies like CAPCO which operated Kariba Hydro Power Stations on the Zambia and Zimbabwe side, Electricity Commission which owned and operated Hwange Power Station, etc. The system was efficient and very reliable. 
"If it works do not fix it!" one would have said but you tell that to a reasonable man; Mugabe is NOT a reasonable. He passed a law to breakup all the electricity companies to form one big company called ZESA with his brother-in-law, Sydney Gata, (Zimbabwe is Mugabe's personal property and has always been ruled as a family affair) as its manager complete with the "ZESA MOTO MUZHINJI!" slogan.
The one thing ZESA completely failed to do was increase power supply in Zimbabwe; the utility has wasted billions and billions of dollars on dead end projects like Rural Electrification only to have a politician's house at the end of line hundreds of kilometres long and on the usual corruption and mismanagement.

To hear the Minister talk of "this 21st century, we cannot continue to accept and take such situations as the norm" only the naïve and gullible the government is going to actually DO something about the country's chronic power shortage.

We did not get into this situation in the last month or five years; this situation has been a stead state decline that started way back in 1980. And the decay and rot has not only happened in the electricity industry but in every other facet of our lives. Unemployment has soared to 90% plus because companies have closed right, left and centre; that is not the norm in the 21st century. Cities and towns across the country are failing to supply clean running water, even a big Hospital like Parerenyatwa has had no clean running water; in this day and age. 
As for the bit "we cannot continue to accept and take such situations as the norm" the "we" refers to Mugabe, himself and the rest of the Zanu PF regime and not any of us povo constituting 90% or so, we have no say in this, never did.
Minister Undenge is a seasoned Zanu PF politician schooled in the party's way of doing things; it has taken decades before the party finally acknowledged there is a power supply problem in the country, that is phase one. Now phase two, the regime will public denounce the shortage and declare that it is not acceptable; as long as the regime talk about the problem it does not have to do anything. 
As for us povo we are stuck with the situation, of course it is not acceptable that so many people so have no electricity, running water, no formal employment, etc. 16% of our people are living in abject poverty. Zimbabwe has some of the best land for food production and yet 1.3 million are facing starvation right now; we are starving in the Garden of Eden. 
We are stuck with Mugabe and Zanu PF because we have been denied our freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life itself. 
"ZANU PF THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE!" that is just another empty slogan just like the ZESA slogan. Mugabe has vowed that there was going to be no regime change in Zimbabwe and has been ruthless in ensuring there was no regime change. 
In the 2008 presidential run-off the nation was subjected to some frightful scenes of wanton violence, the worse the nation has ever seen, as Mugabe forced the electorate to vote for him. The violence was so blatant and brutal that even SADC and AU election observers, known for their see-nothing, hear-nothing and say-nothing approach to election monitoring, could pretend not to have seen and heard what happen. 
Zimbabwe's economic situation is set to get worse not better dragging the nation deeper and deeper into the Dark Ages as long as Zanu PF remains in power. If we, the people, povo, are serious about ending this relentless much into hopelessness and despair then we must demand the implementation of all the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA. Without the reforms and thus free and fair elections we will never have a meaningful say in the governance of this country. 
"ZESA MOTO MUZHINJI!"  "MUGABE THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE!" Yeah right!