Suburban
Frequent power cuts as a result of faults are now a daily occurrence in most of the northern suburbs of Harare which saw residents of Avondale West this week express their disgust at power utility’s Zesa Holdings service.
Suburban Reporter
Most parts of Avondale West did not have power with residents living on roads such as Ascot, Meath and Surrey reporting that they had spent two days without power while a dropped power cable along Derby Road was not being attended to by the power utility.
Three residents living on Ascot Road confirmed that they had no power this week in discussions on service delivery issues on Monday evening this week.
“Anyone without electricity, we don’t have in Ascot,” said one resident with two others living on the same road confirming there was no power in the area.
By Tuesday Zesa Holdings was still to restore power to the area with residents saying they were having difficulties getting a reference number for their fault reports to the power utility because its system was down.
“Good morning, our house 11 Meath/Surrey is without power. Are the above houses still without power? Has anyone had any success with getting a reference from Zesa? I spoke to them this morning and system down so can’t get a reference. Will follow up again! if you would like to be a part of the fault report please post your address either on the group or directly to me and hopefully we can get this sorted!” said a resident.
Marianne Matthews who lives along Ascot Road also confirmed that they still had no power by Tuesday morning.
Chairman of the Avondale West Neighbourhood Watch Mr Stompie Fourie urged residents to report the faults to Zesa and then keep putting pressure on the power utility to attend to their reports.
“Notice to all members; Hi everyone, as much as would like to sort all the problems out besetting our suburb, I truly cannot. Just today I have received two calls at work and a further four at home. For the record I don’t know anyone at Zesa and cannot do anything about faults other than to ring the same numbers we all do. Zesa have transferred their personnel around and the technicians who used to be friendly and helpful are no longer around.
“My suggestion for electrical faults is that once reported on this group with details, as many of us as possible, phone in or WhatsApp to Zesa faults and keep the pressure on until they respond. I genuinely cannot do more than this in any power related problems. I hope everyone can understand this?
I’ve always maintained there is strength in numbers and enough phone calls to Zesa will elicit a response sooner than later. Thank you all for your understanding,” said Mr Fourie.
Residents thanked their chairman for the suggestion with some informing fellow residents that they had even been to Zesa in person but still no electricians had come through to assist them.
“Thank you Stompie! If you are one of the houses that have a fault, please let us know if you manage to get anywhere. I’ve only had success with one phone call at 6.30 this morning. Been in person to Zesa and they were meant to be here between 4-5pm but haven’t arrived! We still yet to get any reference as the Zesa system is down. Night two no power! Let’s hope tomorrow brings light!” said a resident.
Mr Fourie said residents should not relent on keeping pressure on Zesa through calls and social media platforms until the fault in the area has been fixed.
“Whilst genuinely sympathising with those currently without power, I really do feel Zesa needs to be inundated with calls, flooded with WhatsApp and even Facebook. I know it’s the luck of the draw actually getting a response, but who knows. I’ve already reported on behalf of another member this afternoon. Unfortunately, they have a mindset which I can’t explain. Maybe if the Suburban highlight our shoddy treatment in Avondale West by Zesa?” he said.
Another resident Ashley Savania said the last time they had a problem with Zesa they called Engineer Mapfumo who was helpful.
