Jailing of cable vandals elates ZESCO
Written by Millennium on July 30, 2019
SIMON MUNTEMBA writes
@SunZambian
THE conviction and jailing of two men who vandalized ZESCO cables valued at K20, 000 to 12 years with hard labour has cheered the power utility company.
ZESCO public relations manager Hazel Zulu said the corporation was elated by the jailing of the vandals as it would send a strong message to would-be offenders.
In a statement, Ms. Zulu identified the two convicted men as Wallace Munsaka,35 and Most Hachinyama, 29 years, both of Kafue Gorge.
She said the incident happened last year in August in Mazabuka District at the Rockdale 33/11 KV substation on Chikankata Road.
Ms. Zulu said the two convicts were found cutting ZESCO copper cables inside the substation and were apprehended by the firm’s police and consequently charged with vandalism before the courts of law.
She said on July 23, the case came for continued trial before the High Court of Zambia and the two accused were found guilty of the offence of vandalism contrary to section 341D subsection 1(2) and (a) (1) of the amended Act of No. 17 of 2017.
“ZESCO is pleased with this development as it will act as a clear warning and deterrent to would-be offenders. As a corporation, we have repeatedly warned perpetrators of this vice that we will not relent and allow unscrupulous people to vandalize our installations but will instead take drastic measures to ensure that the culprits are brought to book,
“We, therefore, welcome the conviction of the two culprits and are confident that this will serve as a clear warning to those who may want to engage in acts of sabotage and derail the development of the country through vandalism of ZESCO installations, which are very critical to the development of the country,” Ms Zulu said
Ms. Zulu has assured the public that the corporation would continue to step up line patrols, investigations, and intelligence gathering and sensitization programs at localities where rampant vandalism of cables and transformers have been recorded.
Ms. Zulu said ZESCO would also enhance security controls to critical facilities.
She said ZESCO remained committed to ensuring that it made it easy for people to live better lives as it continued to work vigorously to bring these vile acts to a halt.
She called on the public to join the fight against vandalism and report any such acts to the Zambia Police or ZESCO Police on 0211365195/6, 0211363636, 0978783000 or 322 to ensure that the institution continued to provide sufficient and quality electricity to all its citizens.
