Electricity in Zimbabwe is so cheap that this is the only country in the world where people are still using power to prepare tripe, mazondo and trotters, the Member of Parliament for Chegutu West Dexter Nduna said last week.
He said the pre-payment system that was introduced by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority was partly going to address the issue of power shortages because it was going to make sure that people use electricity that they can afford to pay for.
The introduction of the system, he said was “a noble development because Zimbabwe is the only country in the world that by now or up to now had continued to use electricity to prepare tripe, mazondo, and to cook such other things such as trotters”.
Other countries had since moved to alternative sources of energy.
“So, prepayment systems are going to make sure that by choice, our people move away from using electricity unnecessarily that they cannot, at the end of the day be able to pay for Mr. Speaker Sir. People are going now to use what they are able to pay for.
“What this does is, it aligns the amount of electricity generated by us as a nation to the amount of electricity that we are using as our domestic requirement,” he said.
Nduna was debating a motion on the shortage of electricity that was moved by Mabvuku-Tafara legislator James Maridadi.
Nduna said the shortage of power was not unique to Zimbabwe especially since the country was under sanctions which members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change refused to acknowledge and to denounce.
Here is his full contribution to the debate:
MR. NDUNA: Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir. I rise to debate on the motion by Hon. Maridadi on the electricity or ZESA situation here in Zimbabwe.
Firstly, I want to make it clear that the brain drain here in Zimbabwe, at ZESA is not unique to Zimbabwe only but it is an effect that affects all countries that have got a literacy rate such as ours. So if a country is endowed with technocrats such as ours and the remuneration in their field does not match the amount of work that they put in or the amount of energy they put towards their work, naturally that will shed off such technocrats to other countries.
Secondly, I want to dispel the notion that our grid or our infrastructure here in Zimbabwe cannot hold the amount of electricity that our consumers, as a nation need to use for their day to day consumption.
Mr. Speaker Sir, we have a tri-nation agreement which borders on the SADC countries, that they can take electricity or import electricity via Zimbabwe. This infrastructure was built with that in mind. So the notion that as a nation, our infrastructure capacity cannot hold any electricity that is more than that which is being transmitted through it at the moment is not right.
Thirdly, Mr. Speaker Sir, the electricity shortage here in Zimbabwe is not only unique to Zimbabwe. As I will illustrate, generation of electricity is a mammoth task and is capital intensive, as it also covers the countries that are bordering us. As I speak, Mr. Speaker Sir, except that it gets to be a little bit easier for them to go about this mammoth task because they are not under sanctions, they can easily get their infrastructures in place and they can easily get spare parts from the western countries. The replacement of spare parts and the building of new infrastructure for electricity is very capital intensive.
I would also like the House to know Mr. Speaker Sir, that the unbundling of ZESA, had it gone through or had it not been seen, was going to make sure that our electricity is now in the hands of neo-colonialists, our former colonisers and those that we previously fought with during the war of liberation. I am glad Mr. Speaker Sir that we have seen through the thin veil of political machination by the opposition party which intended to give back an issue of national importance to the enemy.
I want to mention that our Chief Whip, Hon. J. Gumbo has already touched on the issue of motions being presented by the other side of the House, that border on trying to debate the Presidential Speech in a skewed manner that is going to be seen as though they are not aligning themselves to the Presidential Speech. The President touched on electricity or ZESA being an enabler in the economy and this has also been touched on in the ZIM ASSET document; that if followed to the latter, Mr. Speaker Sir, is going to see this country go out of the doldrums.
MR. MUTSEYAMI: On of a point of order, I think the hon. member is not addressing the motion; he is really diverting from the motion. I would appeal to you Mr. Speaker Sir, to address him so that he goes back to the motion. I thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: There is no point of order because the hon. member is trying to demonstrate that the issue of infrastructural development as far as electricity generation is concerned has been mentioned in the ZIM ASSET document.
MR. MUTSEYAMI: The hon. member was just trying to find something to talk about.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, can you debate the motion –
[HON.MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections]
MR. NDUNA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. That is music interlude. I have touched on the ZIM ASSET on how the Blue Print is seeking to address the situation of this enabler, which is electricity in our nation to totally make sure that we get optimum power for the development of the issues that have been touched on in the ZIM ASSET document that I think are very noble. This issue is just taking over from the Presidential Speech which I certainly think, if the other counterparts on the other side of the House had debated the Presidential Speech, we would clearly have finished this motion on electricity by now.
I am going to touch on the pre-payment system Mr. Speaker Sir, before I go deep into this debate. It is a noble development because Zimbabwe is the only country in the world that by now or up to now had continued to use electricity to prepare tripe, mazondo, and to cook such other things such as trotters. Other countries have moved away from this approach Mr. Speaker Sir. They are now using other renewable sources of energy and gas to say the least. So, prepayment systems are going to make sure that by choice, our people move away from using electricity unnecessarily that they cannot, at the end of the day be able to pay for Mr. Speaker Sir. People are going now to use what they are able to pay for.
What this does is, it aligns the amount of electricity generated by us as a nation to the amount of electricity that we are using as our domestic requirement.
I am going to touch on energy deficit Mr. Speaker Sir, as examples in other nations that are bordering us, to show that this issue of energy deficit or electricity deficit does not only reside in Zimbabwe. It is a regional phenomenon that touches on all other countries that are bordering us.
According to Himende the energy minister in Mozambique. He is looking at closing the energy deficit through building of new hydro-electricity power stations at Mpanda Nkuwa phase one which will generate a thousand five hundred megawatts. Phase two will generate 900 megawatts, Bora 200 megawatts, Lupata 600 megawatts, Lurio 120 megawatts and on the north bank of the Cabora Bassa 1 245 megawatts.
This is happening as we speak Mr. Speaker Sir. This is a statement that was produced in May of 2013. Mozambique has not completely covered its population or its needs in electricity issues. The only difference that Mozambique has with us is that they can develop their electricity infrastructure un-impeded in a sanction free environment. What I want the other hon. members to know is that we can develop our infrastructure because we will need that electricity to cover the deficit that is there in the nation. However, it is going to be a bit slower, more tedious and more painful because of the dilapidating sanctions that have been imposed on us by the West. Thus, the hon. members from the other side of the House are totally cognisant of and should call for the lifting of the sanctions uchirayika imi –
[HON.MEMBERS: Hear, hear, ]-
Mr. Speaker Sir, we are endowed with natural resources and I want to touch on what the Energy Minister in Mozambique also are used to, as endowment in their nation. He says, the development of the energy sector in Mozambique – you need to listen to this Hon. Mudzuri- will not be based…
MR SPEAKER: Hon. member will you address the Chair please.
MR NDUNA: Will not be based on one source as a country but, also has access to natural gas. I should hasten to say, we have got these fields as well Mr. Speaker Sir, resident in our country. He goes on to say, there is coal in that nation; he goes on to say there is ethanol in that nation. You already, know that the energy crisis on issues to do with petroleum are going down in Zimbabwe because of the ethanol plant at Chisumbanje.
This is a process that we are currently grappled with, that shows that if we use and optimally utilise the resources that our nation is endowed with, we can come out of this energy deficit that is currently in the nation. We have dispelled the notion that the infrastructure or the cabling, to be precise, in this nation is obsolete to the point that it cannot carry the load that is meant for our nation as usage Mr. Speaker Sir. So, however much we generate as a nation to cover our deficit, our cabling, our infrastructure as it is, is able to carry that load.
I am going to touch on DRC Mr. Speaker Sir. We import some of our electricity from DRC to cover our deficit. DRC also exports to other nations. So this phenomenon is not only unique to Zimbabwe. It says the country Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is looking for a developer to build Inga three dam. This is as of November 2011, on the Congo River, which the authorities hope will generate 4 300 mega watts. As a nation, our consumption is ± 2 600 mega watts and we have a deficit of 500 mega watts. So these nations that are bordering us, that still have a deficit and they are looking to build or develop infrastructure that is going to generate 4 300 mega watts, which is going to be ready by 2018. This is a long term project and I want to prove that it is not unique to us only. It is also capital intensive.
I will also show how much power generation costs. Still in DRC, a far larger project that would build a 39 000 mega watt hydro plant in Inga 3 has attracted the interest of the world’s largest mining company BHP. –
[HON MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections]-
MR. SPEAKER: Order, order.
MR. NDUNA: Mr. Speaker Sir, remember BHP is an Australian based company which also tried its hand in Chegutu West Constituency at some point. They ended up handing over the mining concessions and infrastructure to ZIMPLATS which is headed by a South African oriented company. When I say BHP is a large conglomerate of companies that are resident in the mining sector, it is with a lot of knowledge in that regard.
The plans for quoting BHP have stalled. Naturally, what I see Mr. Speaker Sir, is that because electricity generation is so capital intensive, it will scare away a lot of investors, including the neo-colonialists and big corporates like BHP. If big corporates like BHP can be scared off in a natural environment such as the DRC which is sanctions free, which has a lot of potential, how then will it be for Zimbabwe which is under these debilitating sanctions? I want you to see Mr. Speaker Sir, that in an environment that has got no sanctions, which has free movement of capital and otherwise, big corporates are still scared to embark on big capital projects such as power generation because they are too capital intensive.
It says here, the Government of DRC is hoping to double the percentage of population accessing electricity by 2015. This is 2013, but this would cost $6.5 billion. When we say 39 000 mega watts is going to cost $6.5 billion, it means generation of 500 mega watts is going to cost us a billion to ± $2 billion. So if a country such as DRC is unable to attract people to invest this amount, how can we attract investment ourselves in such infrastructure, in such a sector, if those countries that release the monies report to the Western countries have imposed sanctions on us?
I want to touch on …
MR. SPEAKER: Hon. member, you have five minutes more to debate.
MR. NDUNA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I will quickly touch on issues of playing politics with electricity, which is a key enabler of any economic development in our country. In a statement that was given by the former Minister of Energy and Power Development, at the time Elton Mangoma said, “all the 13 independent power producers are licenced to produce electricity but have not started operating because of heightened concerns about the political situation in the country and Government’s forcible approach in implementing its indigenous programme”, that is a shame Mr. Speaker Sir. You can see already, the war is not yet won.
These people want to come into our environment on their own terms. The former Minister of Energy was nearly giving away our livelihoods on a silver platter to neo-colonialists. He goes on to say, “the people who are prepared to do IPP and CSCs are there but they are not here because they are finding the economic and political situation unacceptable to them.”
If you are coming into our turf, the terms should be acceptable to us not to you. The percentage, that as a nation we are giving to foreigners as an indigenisation approach is too much in my opinion. -[AN HON MEMBER: Indigenous ipi yacho yauri kutaura]-
MR. SPEAKER: Order, order.
MR. NDUNA: So if corporates from the West are not prepared to invest in our nation or commit themselves in the energy sector, Mr. Speaker Sir, as you have seen in the past few days, the load shedding has subsided a bit because we are now using what we are able to pay for.
Also, the issue of brain drain is because we are endowed with technocrats. The issue Mr. Speaker Sir, of sanctions, the hon. member who moved this motion should be calling on nations that imposed sanctions on us in order that they get removed and we proceed to generate electricity, Mr. Speaker Sir; using our own natural resources: our coal, our gas at Lupane, using our water at Kariba unimpeded, because we have got the capacity and the natural resources. What we lack is the removal of sanctions so that we can access the lines of credit to build the infrastructure.
So Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to encourage the hon. member that moved this motion to keep moving motions of this nature, but should take cognisance of the fact that, the likes of hon. members who have seen through this thin veil of politicking and political machinations, by the neocolonialists, are going to come and debate to the effect that, let us make sure that this environment is sanction free – [HON MEMBERS: Hear,hear] – and then we can now …
MR. SPEAKER: Order, order, hon. member, your time is up.
MS. MUTSEYAMI: I want to move that the hon. member’s time be extended –
[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections].
MR. SPEAKER: Order, order, hon. member, you may sit down please – [Being Mr. Nduna who had stood up]. Hon. Member, can you wind up your debate – [HON MEMBERS: Hear, hear].
MR. NDUNA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I just want to touch on the statement by the Energy Minister, Minister Mavhaire that, given the current situation…
MR. SPEAKER: Sorry, hon. member, there were some members who did not agree and in that case, the time cannot be extended
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