Plumtree plunged into darkness

PLUMTREE Town has been plunged into darkness after thieves stole copper cables from the main power line on Saturday.

This has also resulted in taps running dry due to lack of water pumping capacity.

The blackout has greatly affected business and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) is failing to pump water into its reservoirs to supply both commercial and residential areas in the border town. Plumtree council chairperson Mr Fanisani Dube said both the town and surrounding rural areas are affected by the blackout.

"The blackout is covering the whole of Plumtree, and it is affecting businesses Plumtree and some parts of Figtree.

According to what Zesa officials told us, cables were stolen along the main supply line that connects Plumtree with Bulawayo," he said.

The councillor said they had been informed that there were delays in restoring electricity because the area where vandalism took place was not easy to access.

"Zesa has been keeping us posted on the progress, but the place where the cables were stolen is not easily accessible because it is muddy and vehicles can hardly move across.

"We understand that the vandals cut off electricity poles though we are not sure how much of the copper cables were stolen," said Mr Dube.

He also said residents are living in fear of contracting waterborne diseases.

"The difficult part of it is that it has affected the water pumping system and if there is no water. The whole town is vulnerable to waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea. We might have an outbreak if the restoration takes too long," he said.

Yesterday, Zesa western region general manager Engineer Lloyd Jaji said engineers and technicians were still making frantic efforts to restore power. "We have a team working to restore supplies to Plumtree at the earliest possible.

"The initial outage was found to be due to vandalism and we are yet to ascertain the cause of the latest outage," he said.