From www.sapst.org

State Enterprises and Parastatals

The Committee received oral evidence from the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company, which was represented by Mr Chifamba. The major highlights of the presentation were as follows:

ZESA was not able to maintain a continuous power supply to the majority of customers due to a power shortfall. About 1300MW of power was available against a national demand of up to 2100MW. As a result customers were experiencing load shedding.

Some constraints in providing continuous power supply to customers are due to network faults caused by the aging of the electrical infrastructure, theft and vandalism of network components.

ZESA had scaled down on meter reading because it was expensive in terms of manpower and resources. Hence customers would receive estimated bills.

ZESA was experiencing challenges with the billing system in Harare and Western Regions resulting in erroneous bills.

ZESA was owed over $475 million by customers.

The following update from the International Socialist Organisation (Zimbabwe) shares some of the challenges Munyaradzi Gwisai and the 44 others who have been charged with treason have faced during their prolonged detention:

We had been paying the rentals of the families of the detained and to give them some cash to meet their daily basic requirements. A Trust was set up called Fourty-Five Social Response Trust in order to ensure that the needs of the detained and their families are met. Currently all the funds we received are being administered by a law firm in town to ensure accountability. We are currently working on the issue of a bank account for the trust in order to ensure that all funds are deposited in one account.

Now back to the affairs of the detained: We visited them during the week and they were being examined by medical doctors of their choice to check on their health as per the court order and this was being facilitated by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. We were reliably informed that by Friday afternoon the doctors had finished examining everyone and the only pending issue was the medicines and further examination to some who needed special attention for example Antonetter Choto and a few others.

On Saturday morning we visited the male remand prison only to be told that half (17) of the prisoners had been moved to Harare Central Prison (a prison designed for convicted persons only) and the other
17 remained at the remand prison. Those who had been moved told us that they were moved on Friday evening and they were in solitary confinement, one in his own cell. They were allowed 30 minutes exercise in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening and the rest 23 hours they had to spend in a locked cell, each person by himself.

We could see frustration and distress on the faces of these 17 comrades. We asked in vain to get an explanation as to why these people who are not yet convicts were in a prison for the convicted. We however managed to give them food and drinks. We advised the lawyers on the matter and they said they will look into it. The comrades are however due to attend court on Monday 07/03/11.

It’s days like this that make me wish I could believe in something. Instead, my every eyelash and rainbow and first star wish, my deepest hope and greatest intention have all been going for the same thing for the past 17 days. I need this to be the day the International Socialist Organisation (Zimbabwe)’s Munyaradzi Gwisai, ZIMCODD’s Hopewell Gumbo, our colleague Lenard Kamwendo and the 42 others who have been charged with treason go home.

Those hopes, you reply, are in tatters. Yet what does this really change? Justice is still a one-word prayer, as Ziggy Marley sings in your time now. The whole of history is about hopes being sustained, lost, renewed. And with new hopes come new theories. But for the overcrowded, for those who have little or nothing except, sometimes, courage and love, hope works differently. Hope is then something to bite on, to put between the teeth. Don’t forget this. Be a realist. With hope between the teeth comes the strength to carry on even when fatigue never lets up, comes the strength, when necessary, to choose not to shout at the wrong moment, comes the strength above all not to howl. A person, with hope between his or her teeth is a brother or sister who commands respect. Those without hope in the real world are condemned to be alone. The best they can offer is only pity. And whether these hopes between the teeth are fresh or tattered makes little difference when it comes to surviving the nights and imagining a new day.
- John Berger, Hold Everything Dear

Munyaradzi Gwisai, co-ordinator of the Internationalist Socialist Organisation organised a meeting on Saturday, 19th February, to discuss the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Gwisai and 44 others (including a Kubatana member of staff) were arrested. Subsequently they are being charged with treason.

That means YOU, ME, Gwisai, Mugabe himself, the ice cream seller and the airtime vendor could all be charged with treason.

Why? Because hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have been watching the events in North Africa unfold on satellite TV. We’ve been reading about it in a number of newspapers and magazines freely available in Zimbabwe. We’ve been following news on the Internet, and we have been listening to radio broadcasts. We have been talking about the political events in North Africa in supermarkets, pubs, on the soccer fields and in our homes. We’ve been writing about Tunisia and Egypt in emails, in blogs, in columns on web sites and on FaceBook pages.

In other words we are an integral part of the Forty-Five unjustly incarcerated.

Speak out now. Join the campaign to Free the Forty-Five.

ACTION:

Please text or email Kubatana a message of support and solidarity for the Forty-Five and we will deliver these messages to them to keep their spirits up. Join Us. Share the Word. Get your fingers working for freedom.

At every opportunity we must protect our right to free speech, and challenge any attempt to silence us.

Text us on: +263-772-452201
Email us on: info [at] kubatana [dot] net

Please let us know if you would like to remain anonymous.

Here is a list of the detainees. Each one is more than just a name. They are a mother, a sister, a brother, a father, and a friend.

Munyaradzi Gwisai, Antonater Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Michael Sozinyu, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo, Welcome Zimuto, Philip Magaya, Prolific Simbarashe Mataruse, Godknows Biya, David Mupatse, Douglas Muzanenhamo, Reki Jimu, Ganizani Nunu, Josphat Chinembiri Terenyika, Strutton Nyaya Muhambi, Trevor Chamba, Clarence Mugari, Munyaradzi Maregedze, Willie Tinashe Hlatswayo, Ian Muteto, Tinashe Mutazu, Pride Evidence Mukono, Lenard Kamwendo, Tinashe Chisaira, Trust Munyama, Peter Garanewako, Elizaberth Chipo Makume, Megline Malunga, Daison Bango, Malvern Hobwana, Tashinga Mudzengi, Ednar Chabalika, Thokozile Mathe,
Francesca Thomson, Masline Zvomuya, Nhamo Kute, Annie Chipeta, Tabeth Chideya, Charles Mbwandarikwa, Thomas Chibaya, Fatima Manhando, Blessing Muguzaya, Robert Muhlaba, Tinashe Muzambi

Resistance takes place any time a man or woman rebels to the point of tearing off the clothes resignation has woven for them, and cynicism has dyed grey.
Zapatista Marcos