Politicisation of the power crisis will not help

As usual, the MDC-T attempts to capitalise on the power crisis dogging the country for its political expediency. It has become the tradition of the MDC-T to thrive on crisis as this.

Of course, the current power outages are not good for the nation for they retard productivity in the industry and subsequently encumber economic growth. However, the problem surrounding the shortage of electricity is largely due to circumstances beyond any human effort. Largely I say. Vice President Cde Emerson Mnangangwa told parliament on Wednesday that the dwindling volume of water in the Kariba dam occasioned the power crisis. He also pointed out that government was considering a raft of short-term measures to arrest the problem.

In view of VP Mnangagwa's submission in Parliament, there is really no point to play the blame game and seek political convenience. The problem is being taken care of by government as a whole and not by Dr Samuel Udenge and his Permanent Secretary Patson Mbiriri per se.

Some people have gone to extent of personalising the issue. Mudenge only took over the ministry yesterday. Even Elton Mangoma who is a presidential hopeful was once at the helm of that ministry. We know not of any achievement he scored in that sector. The Zambezi River Authority sounded an early warning in the nineties about the current water shortage in Kariba dam. What did the likes of Mangoma do if they are as proactive as they want us to believe.

Zambia is facing the same problem. There is no Mugabe in Zambia neither are there Dr Udenge and Mr Mbiriri. Zambia's power utility parastatal, ZESCO is already importing 148 megawatts of electricity from a gas fired generator in Mozambique due to power shortage occasioned by low water levels at Kariba. They have cut output from its Kariba hydroelectric power from 500MW to 305MW. It is actually feared that the turbines might be switched off in November if the dam falls to minimum level and if the mining companies do not cut back their power consumption.

Government cannot be held accountable for the poor rains that we have experienced in the 2014-2015 season. Some critics just criticise government from a grave uniformed position. I have heard some people slating the president for vehemently speaking against homosexuality during his speech at the 70th session of the United Nations (UN). They questioned the wisdom of talking about homosexuality when the country had no electricity. According to them, the President was supposed to speak about electricity shortage at the UN. Really? Some people are better off with their mouths shut because many a time they open them, they embarrass themselves and expose their ludicrousness.

The same people unnecessarily made an issue out of the proposed ban of geysers. It was not a sincere outcry but a mere machination to whip up citizens' anger against ZANU PF government.  Honestly, how many people are using those geysers to warrant that outcry?  Elections are on the horizon and some parties have nothing g to use as campaign trump cards. Thus, they seize every opportunity to lure electorates.

Sometimes hard decisions have to be taken if we seriously want to pull the country out of the power crisis. If the ban is to save 300MW, according to the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, then it is a decent measure that every responsible citizen must support. Three hundred megawatts will dramatically contribute much to the national grid.

In the early nineties, there was a serious water shortage that forced the authorities to limit the provision of same. Residents were banned from using horse pipes for watering their garden. That helped although the ban also met resistance. So resistance is always expected when a change is introduced.  

However, the government must not be content with cutting back on electricity consumption. They must come up with lasting strategies that can arrest the problem. Alternative sources of power must be explored. We are told that Zimbabwe is one of the countries that have great sunshine that can provide sustainable solar power. We must seriously consider establishing solar power stations. We are made to believe that someone bungled with tenders that should have avoided the current power crisis. Heads must roll for there is no point in keeping  people who let the country plunge into darkness.