The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Municipal Reporter
THE Government has blasted Bulawayo councillors for walking out of a stakeholders meeting called on by the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) on the rehabilitation of the Bulawayo Power Station.
The councillors walked out in protest over moves by the power utility to destroy two cooling towers at the station as part of the rehabilitation exercise. However, ZPC has insisted that the demolition was necessary as the two towers had outlived their life span and now posed a hazard due to the numerous cracks.
The consultative meeting was chaired by Energy and Power Development Minister, Advocate Fortune Chasi and was also attended by the Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister, Cde Judith Ncube and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development Dr Gloria Magombo.
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister, Cde July Moyo said the walkout was unfortunate and uncalled for. He said there were clear channels to be followed when solving grievances and these should be followed rather than resorting to protests.
“There have been questions brought to me about a walkout which recently occurred when a minister had come to discuss the issue regarding the power station, I will soon be having a discussion with the mayor (Councillor Solomon Mguni) to understand what happened.
“The relationship between local and central Government cannot be one-way where one just walks out because we have to have a relationship, we have to discuss. Let’s not forget Ministries of Government have a relationship with every local authority hence they come to discuss with the councils and if there are any disagreements there are channels to be followed to resolve them,” said Minister Moyo.
He said the local authority should appreciate that President Mnangagwa has constantly stated his support for devolution under which such matters had to be addressed.
“As the Government we have announced — and this has been repeated by Cabinet on a number of occasions — that the President has said he will chair the Committee on Devolution and because he is chairing it there is no need for us to argue. If you have a dispute with a ministry, let’s write papers so that we come before the President in the Cabinet committee which he chairs and that matter will be resolved. That is how you resolve matters in a unitary state,” said the minister.
ZPC and BCC have been at each other’s throats on the operations of the power station with both claiming its ownership.
The local authority has also accused the power utility of failing to pay more than $100 million in royalties for the use of the power station.
After the stakeholder meeting, Clr Mguni vowed council will not issue the power utility with a development licence to demolish the two cooling towers. The Bulawayo thermal power station became part of Zesa in 1987 after the amalgamation of all the Local Authority Electricity Undertakings.
