MARTIN MAWAYA
GWERU-Small business enterprises in Gweru are choking due to incessant power cuts being experienced from the sole electricity supplier in the country, the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company.
The unscheduled power cuts are seriously affecting production and viability of the small businesses as they do not have the capacity to install alternative power to keep them running.
The struggling SMES added that they are forced to make hard choices like downsizing the number of employees and slowing down production, as some parts of the industrial areas are experiencing more than 18 hours without power.
This is despite reported successful tests run of the 300MW Hwange Thermal Power Station Unit 7 recently.
However, as it stands the situation remains bleak as the heightened unscheduled load shedding continue to bite residents and small businesses who end up forking out more resources for alternative energy.
One of the leading small business enterprises specializing in manufacturing aluminum doors, window frames and security trelli-gates at the once flourishing heavy industrial sites, Alumea Trading Pvt Ltd said they are not being spared by the load shedding.
The general manager Gilbert Shawn told The Midweek Watch during the SMES tour, that their operations were plagued with incessant power cuts which heavily compromised production.
“So far we are still crying as you know that when you are in the manufacturing business, you expect electricity to be there always but now that’s a challenge to us,” said Shawn.
For Anaiah Chingwere who runs a hair salon at Mkoba 6 Shopping Center and still recovering from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, said having no electricity for more than 18hours a day is a nightmare for small businesses.
Chigwere said they have lost a lot of their loyal customers as they are now going to those who have the capacity for alternative power.
To make matters worse, most of her clients are married women who cannot visit hair saloons at night when electricity is restored.
She said “ electricity is very essential in this our business and we look forward that the government will fix the problem as they have promised that something is being worked out at Hwange power station to increase energy to the national grid”.
Recently the power Utility dedicated 120MW to winter wheat planting increasing the shortage gap to other sectors of the economy.
Although Chamber of SMES Gweru branch chairperson, Tafadzwa Mazorodze welcomed the move by the power utility for prioritizing the agricultural sector, he however bemoaned power outages saying “they are choking small businesses”.
He said his organization is working round the clock to find ways of assisting SMES with alternative power sources.
“SMEDCO is ready to extend funding assistance to SMES so that they can improve productivity and have alternative sources of energy for their operations.
“SMES should also speed up formalizing their businesses so that they can access foreign currency from the RBZ auction floor that is direly needed for importation of raw materials,” added Mazorodze.
Unreliable electricity in Zimbabwe has not spared the environment as the illegal logging trade is now rampant in most urban areas.
The Forestry Commission and Environmental Management Agency estimated that 15% of indigenous forestry is lost annually due to tobacco curing but use of firewood for domestic purposes has also compounded deforestation.
As a result 330 000 hectares of trees are lost every year, with the local forest cover for the country standing at 45%, a critical level that requires massive tree planting.
For the last decade Zimbabwe has sunk billions of United States dollars into electricity generation but the country is still struggling with the power challenges exacerbated by aged generators that frequently breakdown at Hwange Power Station.
The country is currently generates an average of 1 100MW against demand of 2 200 MW.
