Chaotic loadshedding management

By Daily Revelation Editor

The government is being accused of not doing enough to end loadshedding, since they know that it will be blamed on drought.

They are being accused of not taking the problem of load shedding seriously and that they should put in place measures to solve the problem of loadshedding and not blame natural calamities.

These are the observations millions of Zambians are making, that despite the drought experienced, there is still a lot more the government can do to address this crippling loadshedding.

We firmly believe that the people who are supposed to make these decisions are not being too proactive as they should because they are not feeling the impact of this schedule which ordinary Zambians are experiencing everyday. President Hakainde Hichilema despite regretting the havoc this loadshedding was having on Zambians in his recent address to Parliament, does not feel the impact of it. He actually never experiences it in New Kasama where he resides or even State House where he works from. These senior government officials have their homes constantly lit with power always. Even the many opposition leaders who shout from the mountain tops do not feel the impact of this loadshedding which is butchering ordinary Zambians daily, and violently dismembering their very livelihoods.

The fact that those in government are not proactively taking Zesco to task to even respect its own load schedules, treating Zambians with utter disregard, since this whole blackout season started, is proof enough that they least care about the havoc all this has caused on people’s innocent livelihoods. During this period, Zesco has been allowed to lie with impunity knowing that there will be no consequence for such insolence.

This whole period started with an 8-hour load schedule, slowly expanding to 10 then 13 and then finally 17 hours was announced. Infact, before the country even experienced the announced 17-hour schedule, ordinary Zambians were struck with another hammer blow of 21-hours. Zambians have never actually experienced this 17-hour load schedule which was announced by Energy minister Makozo Chikote, in anticipation of the maintenance works that were going to be carried out at Maamba Collieries and the other megawatts that were going to be removed from the generation system starting September, 2024. Appearing when this 21-hour period was just setting in, Energy permanent secretary Peter Mumba explained at that time that the unstable supply the country had experienced the previous week was on account of the Inter-connector problem in Namibia which had been resolved and the load schedule was going to revert to its normal operations. Barely, 48-hours after he made that announcement, Zesco came out with their own statement whitewashing everything their boss had said.

The utility company said the same connector problem Mumba said had a problem but had been rectified, actually had a problem and the announced 21-hour load schedule would remain in effect. Infact, instead of the announced 21-hour schedule, the reality is that the country is now experiencing days as opposed to those announced hours without power. And even during the same two days of blackouts, you find that electricity sometimes is only restored for about 30 minutes. When it is restored for longer hours, it normally doesn’t last for more than 3-hours, and mostly comes in the middle of the night when people are sleeping, disbursing people’s sleep and their health well being in the process and general output for work during the day, since they did not have enough sleep, trying to warm water, charge their gadgets or do many other things during that short period of energy availability.

The manner Zesco and the the government have handled this whole load schedule is actually nothing short of chaotic, and there would be serious ramifications against them in more serious societies where people don’t tolerate nonsense.