“This seems to be the only way we can recover the significant amount of money Zesa is owed,” a senior government official said.
Committee chairman Edward Chindori-Chininga said they had information that a Manicaland politician owed $100 000 while another senior official in the ministry of Energy and Power Development owed $30 000. Meanwhile Zesa is lobbying the ministry to ban incandescent lights in a move to ensure consumers make use of energy efficient compact fluorescent lighting (CFL).
Research has shown that CFLs are up to four times more efficient. “The investment in CFLs is attractive. We will be spending $7 million to ‘generate’ 150 megawatts (MW), which roughly translates to about $50 000 per MW in capital compare to $3 million per MW on expansions,” said Zesa.