A Movement for Democratic Change legislator, who said Zimbabwe was suffering from power shortages because of lack of vision and corruption, said the Minister Energy Dzikamai Mavhaire should not be fired because he is his brother-in-law and his sister would suffer.
Kambuzuma Member of Parliament Willias Madzimure said power shortages in the country were due to four factors: poor vision, ineffective organisation at the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, corruption and non-payment of debts.
Towards the end of his contribution, when Madzimure said he strongly recommended that the minister… another legislator interjected “ngaadzingwe” .
Madzimure said: “No, vaMavhaire mukuwasha wangu hanzvadzi yangu ingawona nhamo kumba.“
Mavhaire is a member of the politburo of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.
Here is Madzimure’s full contribution
MR. MADZIMURE.Thank you Madam Speaker. The power shortage in Zimbabwe is due to a number of factors. One of the factors is poor vision of Zimbabwe. The second one is also ineffective organisational structure at ZESA. The third one is corruption and the fourth one is non-payment of debt.
Madam Speaker, any visionary leader should have foreseen Zimbabwe growing and also seen Zimbabwe’s economy developing. Naturally, the demand for power was going to increase. Zimbabwe, like any other developing country, was bound to have more and more people turning to modern technology to produce, more and more people turning to technology to irrigate in their farms, more and more people setting up engineering companies to manufacture products. All these activities need power to drive the technology.
This was not anticipated. I say so because we have got the Kariba Power Station. Zambia has already embarked on the expansion and it is already benefiting from the expansion. On the Zimbabwean side, nothing has happened. There has been talk of expanding our side of the power generation but up to today, we have done nothing.
The issue of Batoka has been talked about and there are certain things that Zimbabwe should have done to have our counterparts in Zambia cooperating; but again, as usual, we did not approach the matter with the urgency that it deserved.
The Zambians had some grievances over how we treated them at one time and they wanted compensation. As Zimbabwe, we ignored it until we got to a time where we realised that we needed power.
Again, because Zimbabwe, as usual, we look at things as if there is no hurry at all; we had an opportunity to enter into a serious agreement during the DRC war. This war cost Zimbabwe a lot. We are all aware that the DRC has a lot of power and can also export power to Zimbabwe.
We could have, like what we are doing with the Chinese today, mortgaged some of the things. We could also have used our negotiating skills to persuade the DRC to do the same and get nothing out of the DRC but it is because we were a bit myopic. We did not know exactly what we wanted when we went there. When you extend a hand to help, you must know what to get in return.
Madam Speaker, this is a normal business deal and that is what we do. You do not give for nothing. We have suffered from lack of foresight, to see where Zimbabwe will be in the next ten years. If you ask someone, where do you want to see Zimbabwe in the next ten years?
If someone cannot tell you something about that, it means that person cannot be a visionary leader and that person has no vision. That person does not deserve to be leading the people of Zimbabwe.
[HON. MEMBERS: Ndiyani iyeye?]
Madam Speaker, I would not want to be dragged into a debate that does not benefit this country. I think it is important for us to acknowledge where we have failed and then work out solutions from our mistakes.
On the issue of the ineffective organisational structure at ZESA, you are aware that ZESA used to be one strong unit. There was a decision that that was made and we debated here in Parliament, to break up ZESA into departments and create various organisations within it. It was obvious that it was going to cost us.
To begin with, during that time Madam Speaker, instead of having a Chief Executive Officer at ZESA, we had one person, the Chairperson of the Board being declared the Executive Chairman. As a result, there was no meaningful board contribution in the running of ZESA.
The people of Zimbabwe complained about this situation. Parliamentarians debated over this situation when Sydney Gata was the sole leader of ZESA, who could make any decision. So, several mis-informed decisions were made during that time and we are now leaking our wounds.
It was purely because of that skewed structure at ZESA. When several companies were established at ZESA, the overheads at ZESA had to be increased. We had several CEOs at ZESA and they came at a cost.
You are very much aware Madam Speaker that the majority of our parastatals earn more than US$15 thousand per person. On top of that, most individuals have got children whom several of them go to the most expensive schools.
If you look at their wages, they constitute 10 percent of the executives in an organisation. This amount will be enough to pay salaries for 60 percent of the general labour. Does that motivate those workers?
You sacrifice the welfare of those most important, skilled and productive people to pay the executives. The majority of them are appointed on the basis of their relationship with the board chairperson or the minister responsible.
This cost ZESA and there was no way it was able to focus more on planning to generate more power than to pay the executives. Apart from that Madam Speaker, you will find those executives enjoying other privileges. When they fly, they use business class and they do not fly in economy class. In most cases, they are also accompanied by their spouses. So, this has cost ZESA.
The issue of corruption is another problem. Whenever a contract is signed in Zimbabwe these days, you must be guaranteed that at least 10 percent of it goes to someone else’s pocket. Madam Speaker, if you look at how many people have benefited, and that 15 percent which those people have pocketed, you will find that it has cost the country a lot. So, there is still the issue of corruption. If you want electricity to be connected to your house, if you pay someone, it will not take you time to be served.
The issue of non-payment has also affected us. We have Mozambique which is giving us power from the Cahora Bassa, obviously they have reduced what they sell to Zimbabwe because we are failing to pay. The moment you suffer power outage, if you are a trader and have got products in the refrigerator, they are immediately affected.
If you are in the entertainment field like the tourism, you have got your bars and kitchens, all the products are affected. The consumption of beer is also affected by the power outages.
Madam Speaker, I am a manufacturer. In the process of producing foam rubber, for instance, whatever mixture you have at any given time is not less than a thousand dollars. Therefore, if you suffer electricity outages, what you lose is not only a thousand dollars; it is much more than that because you lose in terms of time as well. You will also lose in terms of what you had already started preparing. You also lose when it comes to cleaning the equipment to start all over again. This is the direct cost. Unless, the issue of power is addressed, Madam Speaker, there is no way you can talk of turning around the economy.
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, hon. members. If you want to discuss on your own, you can go to the lobby. You can continue Hon. Madzimure.
MR. MADZIMURE: Thank you Madam Speaker. For us to turn around the economy, it is virtually impossible until the issue of power is addressed.
[DR. J. M. GUMBO: Verenga Zim Asset]
MR. MADZIMURE: Thank you Madam Speaker. I respect a lot of my senior colleagues here in Parliament and I also expect them to respect the intelligence and integrity of the people of Zimbabwe.
Madam Speaker, a document does not transform anything. A document is just as good as the person who will have produced it. If you plagiarised some of the documents, it becomes very difficult to understand as well. So we cannot hoodwink the people by producing several documents. The people of Zimbabwe expect to have electricity from six to six.
If I am manufacturing, I must be guaranteed good electricity supply. As an industrialist, I know exactly what I am talking about. DRC did not pay anything to Zimbabwe for the services that it got during their war, but today, the people who are benefiting from the DRC are countries like South Africa.
Zimbabwe benefited nothing from the DRC. We have power from DRC all the way to South Africa and we end up even buying power from South Africa. South Africa is getting that power from the people we helped during the war. It is normal that when someone declares you as a friend and you extend a helping hand to that friend; in return, you must also do the same.
In Shona they say “kandiro kanoenda kunobva kamwe“. There was no way we could have allowed our sons and daughter to just go to the DRC and perish and get nothing. I know exactly the cost.
If you are a miner and you have your compressor and pumps sucking water from the mine shafts, if you do not have electricity, effectively what it means is that your shaft will be flooded. When the electricity comes back, you start pumping and by the time you are preparing to start mining, there is an outage again. What do you do?
The cost of producing, if it is gold, goes up. Where will you factor in that cost? If you do it on the international market, Madam Speaker, they will simply shun that gold and buy cheaper gold from another source.
The same applies to a manufacturer of clothing. If you were supposed to produce 1 000 shorts in two hours, because of the power outages, on average you are now producing 1 000 shorts in six hours.
What would be the cost of that particular product? You cannot then compete on the international market. You can say that people are shunning away from the Zimbabwean products because of sanctions or things like that, no. No-one will sacrifice his extra dollar to buy a product because it is a Zimbabwean product. They do not care what the cost of production is.
Madam Speaker, I think it is important that we seriously consider increasing the generation of electricity and also think beyond what we are doing at the moment, for we are simply doing it for the next generation. We are here to make sure that we leave the ground prepared for our children to take-over from where we will have left.
At the moment, we are actually in reverse gear. We are doing nothing. You can bring in new equipment, very good equipment because whatever you get from China depends on the amount of money you have. If you have good money, you get good equipment. They can supply you with one of the best equipment you can think of. But even after you have acquired your equipment from China, you also want to test it but because of the power outage, you cannot do that.
My brother, Hon. Dr. Gumbo, runs a factory. He knows it very well that if there is no electricity, even if all these other members are waiting to collect their t-shirts for campaigns, he will simply say, guys I have no electricity. He will suffer that consequence. He is fully aware and because of that, he has become less and less competitive.
I am not talking about something that I am simply imagining. I am talking about the facts on the ground. If we do not address this particular issue as Zimbabweans, we must forget about competing in almost anything, even soccer itself. These days people play soccer under floodlights. In Zimbabwe, you cannot afford to do so. How do you develop the talents of your children?
You want to heat the swimming pools during winter but if you do not have electricity, how do you do that? You then say in Zimbabwe during winter there is no swimming because it is too cold but it is not an issue anymore in other countries.
I strongly recommend that the Minister – [AN. HON MEMBER:Ngaadzingwe.] – no, vaMavhaire mukuwasha wangu hanzvadzi yangu ingawona nhamo kumba. What he must do is to listen to the words of wisdom and put in place a plan that all other ministers who will come after him, will look back and say, this is what he did. What he simply has to do is to listen and take the good advice and make sure that he corrects the situation. The situation is not good and cannot continue.
Madam Speaker, Zimbabwe cannot develop without electricity. Thank you.
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