THE ZESA ANXIETY – A NEW EPIDEMIC?

The past couple of months have been living hell for us Zimbabweans! We have become so accustomed to electricity (like any civilized society should) that now that we are experiencing serious load shedding, most of us are now suffering from what I would like to call the ZESA Anxiety.

What is the ZESA Anxiety? Well, it is that deep frustration you get when you think about electricity. Mind you it does not only happen when there is no electricity, even when it is there. It happens when you are worried that you will not get to finish what you are doing if electricity suddenly decides to go MIA on you, or when you are wondering why electricity has not gone yet and you are thinking anytime now, but please no, and when it’s not there and you can hear generators from other houses and at your own, it’s as dark and silent as dark and silent get!

Since 2007, we have been having power cuts, but this is just ridiculous. Yes they probably have good reasons why they are doing this to us, but it does not mean we are going to understand and neither are we going to suddenly sympathise!

ZESA defines load shedding as a controlled temporary way of cutting power to parts of the country. The question here is what do they mean by temporary?  Because there is nothing temporary about having our power being periodically cut since 2007! Unless they are referring to how it goes and comes.

ZESA has “assured” its customers being load shed that they will experience a power failure for not more than 5 hours. Really? And that should soothe us somehow? Five hours is a long time when all your gadgets have run out of power and you are lying on your bed day or night dying of boredom, anxiety and frustration! And it gets worse ey. The Zimbabwean power system is going to remain vulnerable for the next five to eight years given the shortage of capacity to generate more electricity.

If you thought it was going to get better, sorry my friend. Oh sorry, did I just cause another ZESA Anxiety attack? Lol.