By Saul Gwakuba-Ndlovu

ZIMBABWE’s southern most and also the nation’s busiest exit-entry town, Beitbridge, is reportedly unable to maintain its public mortuaries because of an acute electricity shortage.

That has resulted in the hot, malarial, fast developing urban centre relying on private funeral parlours, or on burying its deceased within the shortest time. 

Beitbridge Government hospitals and municipal health facilities handle a quite large number of deaths because of stranded travellers, some of whom are from distant places and foreign countries who die there of malaria. 

It probably handles most paupers’ burials in Zimbabwe because it is the country’s busiest international border post. 

We are concerned here more with its energy needs and why they should be prioritised. 

Zimbabwe has at least 12 border posts, that iclude the Victoria Falls, Chirundu, Forbes, Chikwalakwala, Plumtree, Nyamapanda, Bambadzi, Warmler, Kazungula and Sinazongwe. 

Some of the above are insignificant, and have little impact on the fiscus, but certainly not Beitbridge, which is Zimbabwe’s goose that lays the golden egg. 

Beitbridge’s economic importance to Zimbabwe has been mentioned and emphasised on several national fora and the need to maintain a high level of security at the border town is obvious. 

High health standards and a well-lit environment are important security factors. 

Living conditions at every residential and any other human community centres should not be allowed to get to low levels where they become a threat to the lives of the people. 

It is to maintain such health standards that some communities employ what are called ‘health inspectors’.

Electricity is vital to the establishment and maintenance of a healthy society, and should be treated as such by legislative, judicial, administrative as well as commercial and industrial enterprises.   

Punishment for damaging, sabotaging or stealing a part of a community’s public energy infrastructure should be patently severe; no less than it should be for damaging, sabotaging or stealing parts or the whole of the community’s sewerage and/or water reticulation system. 

It has been said Zimbabwe’s unemployment level is the cause of the high incidence of theft of the country’s electricity copper cables. 

That fact cannot justify, no more than we can justify thefts by want, or by quoting the old English dictum: Necessity knows no law. 

In a nation based on the rule of law, the saying that prevails should be: Necessity should be ruled or guided by law. 

In any case, laws are made by duly-elected representatives of the community whereas thieves are self-motivated criminals. 

We need to look at how Beitbridge can, and should, work towards self-development in the energy field. 

Sources of energy are usually three: water (hydroelectricity), thermal (coal) and solar (the sun). 

Of these, solar energy is the cheapest, and Beitbridge is literally awash with sunlight.

A little research can most quickly identify people with the necessary technical knowledge who can develop solar energy infrastructure at Beitbridge, if formerly approached. 

The question about who should take the initiative should be left to the Beitbridge Town Council as it would be on their land that such a development would occur. 

Beitbridge is on the northern bank of the Limpopo River on the southern side of which is South Africa with a large pool of solar energy technicians whose services may be cheaper than those of local ones — what with the prices of goods and services being currently what they are in Zimbabwe! 

Hydro-energy is not a relatively attractive alternative to solar power at Beitbridge, as it would require the construction of a fairly large source of water on the Limpopo. 

That body of water could be used for agricultural and potable purposes, as well as by both Zimbabwe and South Africa, and even by Mozambique to the east and Botswana to the west either eventually or immediately. 

Although the Beitbridge region’s geological characteristics are said to be unsuitable for the creation of large surface water reservoirs, modern construction technology can minimise or modify some of those natural disadvantages, the main one being the prevalence of the Kalahari sand. 

The disadvantage of surface water reservoirs in subtropical regions is that because of the high rate of evaporation and the ever threatening droughts, the required quantity of water may be reduced, making hydroelectricity generation impossible. 

Thermal power generation could give life to the Beitbridge region’s untapped mineral sector. 

There have been a great deal of talk about the district or region being rich in coal, exactly what could be used to generate thermal energy. 

However, it would not be economically viable for an investor to open a coal mine just to supply one thermal power station. 

In any case, the world is moving away from thermal power to much more environmentally friendly solar energy. 

Beitbridge may wish to take advantage of devolution to deal aggressively with such challenges as not only energy and security, but also public accommodation, roads and the modernisation of its municipal services. 

Its proximity to South Africa is an advantage to Zimbabwean exporters. 

Similarly, South Africans in the same sector would love to operate warehouses in the border town to enable their customers based further afield in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and the DRC to access South African exports without having to travel all the way to the Indian or Atlantic ocean ports.

Saul Gwakuba-Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo-based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734 328 136 or through email: sgwakuba@gmail.com