Zims counts each day they are pushed into abject poverty by less caring government- FEATURE (6-6-07)

ing rent to the landlord while I have not gotten anything from this business,” another one chips in.

“I have lost 10kilogrammes of meat, my milk has gone sour and I still have to pay the bill at the end of the month. This is getting into my nerves,” one says while traveling in a public transport into the city centre for work while uncertain whether there shall be work altogether that day.

This is now common talk among the Zimbabwean folk as power outages are now something they will have to live with or learn to for a very long time to come.
It also comes as Zimbabwe is experiencing chronic electricity outages beginning this week with the state-run power utility increasing charges by 50 percent.
Mutare resident William Bayayi is among the may that are moaning and counting their loses as power outages continue unabated in most urban centres in the country.
“I have lost my meat stock at home and at my small butchery I run in the location in Dangamvura. I have to throw away meat worth $10 million as it has gone stale as a result of long period of power cuts.
He says apart from that he is disappointed by the huge electricity bills that will follow come month-end.
“I still have to pay a lot of money in electricity bills at home and at my business despite the loss of meat I have encountered,” Bayayi says.
To add salt to a wound the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, ZESA in a statement this week said it would review the 50 percent hike.
The power utility says the charges will be reviewed every month and adjusted upward in line with the nation’s rampant inflation of over 3,700 percent, and regarded as the highest in the world.
Informal traders and self employed people such as Regai Muusha, a barber in Mutare, fumes he has lost vast business as a direct result of long periods of power cuts.
“I have not attended to a single customer the whole day, but am still expected to pay rentals month end. This is between a rock and a hard surface. This is my only way of getting money, but how can I work and earn when there is no power?”
He says back home his family expects him to bring some food at the table each day but he has gone for days without working or working shorter hours, which means he gets less, but still has to pay the full rent at the end of the month.
A colleague at the hair parlor Marvellous Zengeni, a hair dresser, laments her loses too as she sits by the door leading into the city saloon.
She says their line of business is inclined to power usage as they use electric dryers, same with Muusha who use electric hair trimmers.
“There is no way we can work with no power. These days we are doomed.”
Housewives have not been spared too in the marry-go-round with ZESA.
Sharmaine Gumbo, 45 of Chikanga a suburb in Mutare says she has to do with buying firewood which is now expensive, compared to electricity bills on a month for her cooking and heating water for bathing this winter.
“A bundle of firewood costs about Z$10 000 and it does not last a week. For a month the family needs four of these at a cost of Z$40 000 compared to electricity which is between Z$30 000 and Z$40 000.”
Ironically, she says she still pays that much for the electricity come month end, which she only gets at odd hours of the day like at midnight and very early in the morning for a few hours and cannot use it at that time.
The mother of four laments the breakingdown of her refrigerator, television set owing to the sporadic power outages and may be suing the power utility might be an option one day. She blames the breaking down of her gadgets to the power cuts at any time of the day.
The city by-laws states that it is an offence to fell trees and most of the firewood on sale is poached and sold clandestinely, and if seen by council municipal police offenders would be prosecuted. This makes the firewood to be sold expensively given the risks involved, she says.
Another alternative source of energy, paraffin is hard to get in the country.
The ever climbing cost of living in Zimbabwe is making it difficult for families to budget for long term, as goods and services are almost always priced differently and upwards daily.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) estimates that an average family of five needs about Z$2 million a month to live modestly and be above the poverty datum line.
Most workers in Zimbabwe get as little as $300 000 a month in salary to cover for essentials such as shelter, food, clothing, school fees, medication, transport among others necessities.
Zimbabwe imports nearly half of its electricity requirements from neighbouring countries such as Mozambique, South Africa, DRC and Angola but is facing a critical shortage of foreign currency to pay for the power imports.
Regular power cuts of a few hours known as “load shedding” and water outages occur daily, creating a boom in sales of generators and inverters, a power storage device using a rechargeable battery that runs computers, lamps and a television, and water storage tanks and pumps.
Firewood sales have also gone up as a direct result of the power cuts in Zimbabwe.
As it stands Zimbabweans will have to live with paying for services that they seldom get and at a higher price-CAJ News.