By Patience Gondo
THE Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company has reacted to a story by Ziyah News Network and promised fast reaction to a fault that has plunged a section of Tshidixwa and Milayo Industrial sites into darkness.
ZETDC had remained aloof and was not giving its subscribers any update despite an outage almost a week old.
Soon after the report, the power utility climbed down to update residents of the developments.
In that update issued under its Western Region, ZETDC said the outage from April 29, is affecting (Tshidixwa) Old Medium Density suburbs, parts of Milayo (the industrial sites) and surrounding areas is receiving attention..
The utility attributed the disruption to a faulty transformer and said repair work is currently in progress.
“Our teams are working to ensure full restoration of service in the shortest possible time,” ZETDC said.
It said residents should treat all circuits as live as power could be restored without notice.
The response comes after days of frustration among residents, who had complained about a lack of clear communication from the power utility.
Ward 3 councillor Takavingei Mahachi welcomed the update, saying timely communication was critical in maintaining public confidence.
“I want to thank ZESA for their urgent response to the people’s concerns. Communication is best rather than leaving the community relying on assumptions and second hand information. This brings confidence to the people,” he said.
“We understand that man made facilities are subject to faults and breakdowns, but without communication, there is no confidence. We really appreciate their response.” said Mahachi.
Before the update, Mahachi had raised concern over the prolonged outage, which he said had left residents in a section of Tshidixwa without electricity for several days a recurring problem in the area.
The outage has disrupted daily life, with some households reporting food spoilage due to lack of refrigeration.
“What is particularly frustrating is that this is a prepaid system, yet we are being denied what we have already paid for,” said another resident.
While ZETDC has since acknowledged the fault and begun repairs, Sandra Matutu a resident said they are now waiting for full restoration of power and longer term solutions to prevent recurring outages.