Beitbridge govt complex switched off

SEVERAL departments housed in the Beitbridge Government Complex have been operating without electricity for more than three months after the government offices were switched off for non-payment of bills.

The affected departments are Beitbridge Regional Court, the district development co-ordinator’s office, the Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion ministry, the Public Service Commission, Agritex and the Salary Service Bureau.

Electricity bills for all these departments are paid centrally in Harare.

Efforts to get a comment from Department

of Public Construction were fruitless.

District development co-ordinator Sikhangezile Mafu Moyo said it was not her office’s responsibility to pay bills, adding that she was also inconvenienced.

“We have been operating like this for months. Electricity has not been paid for and we are unable to use electrical appliances we have, like WiFi and computers,” one official said.

“It is embarrassing when clients come from far away and we cannot provide services that require us to use electricity. That’s besides the discomfort in the offices in this heat.”

Added the official: “We have villagers who travel long distances for services and failing to provide them because we have no electricity is a disservice.

“Court sessions are particularly straining when officials sit for long periods with sweat running visibly through their clothes. It was embarrassing to see the regional magistrate fanning himself with court papers during a sitting.”

For some time, the regional court, which operates electro-recording machines, operated with a generator, but it appears their fuel reserves have run dry.

Temperatures in Beitbridge have been soaring, averaging 42 degrees Celcius of late, making it uncomfortable to work at the government complex, which is ironically situated in a border town which is a government cash cow that rakes in millions of dollars in revenue on a daily basis.