Power outages rock Pemba

–Residents of Pemba have appealed to Zesco to establish an office in the new district in order for residents to access all their services.

Oswald Mwansa, a resident of Pemba, told ZANIS in an interview that Zesco’s services were desperately needed in the emerging town as residents needed physical presence of personnel to consult on matters relating to electrical faults, electrifying houses and a point for purchasing prepaid units.

“You know it is awkward to learn that Pemba currently has no Zesco point of sale for pre-paid units and Monze is the nearest town the residents can buy units from,” Mr Mwansa said.

Meanwhile, Pemba residents have expressed displeasure over the erratic power outages experienced in the district and Zesco’s failure to attend to their electricity needs.

In separate interviews, Musama Mutale, a resident said the erratic power outages had become an irritation and an inconvenience to the residents of Pemba especially that Zesco had no communication relation with its customers in the district.

“You see nearly every day power goes at any time without prior notice by Zesco and this is affecting our operations as some of us depend on power to do our work,” Mr Mutale said.

Speaking earlier, Mushoba Mwashingwele told ZANIS that the power outages were uncalled for especially that Zesco did not run community announcements leaving its customers in suspense as they did not know the cause of the power outages.

He complained that his electrical apparatus were damaged, saying so far he had two television sets and a fridge damaged because of erratic outages and he had to incur the costs of repairing them.

“The situation is pathetic because it is also affecting water supply and Southern Water And Sewerage Company claims it cannot pump water to households without power. Then how does one expect us to survive in such conditions?” Mr Mwashingwele wondered.

Most of the residents have had their apparatus burnt due to erratic power outages.

And when contacted for a comment, Zesco Public Relations Officer, Henry Kapata, said he was out of town and was yet to speak to the Southern Regional Manager to ascertain the cause of the outages in Pemba.