THE unrelenting power outages across the country last week took their toll on households in Harare's Kambuzuma suburb, damaging domestic appliances worth billions of dollars.

More than 30 households lost electrical appliances, including television sets, decoders, radios, stoves and refrigerators after a sudden surge in voltage.

The residents said most of the appliances exploded suddenly, producing smoke before packing up completely.

One resident, Munashe Mugoni, said he was watching television with his family around 8PM when the incident happened.

"A bulb in the lounge exploded suddenly," said Mugoni, "followed by another one in a bedroom. After a few seconds, the TV blew up, producing smoke from the rear."

Marvelous Sibanda was another resident whose household was hit by the spate of exploding appliances. She said she could not afford to replace her TV set and refrigerator.

"For all these years, I have been working for these appliances, only to lose them in a minute," said Sibanda, a cross-border trader.

Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) electricians who later came to inspect a local sub-station told residents the mishap was caused by an electrical fault precipitated by the theft of underground cables.

But the residents were not entirely satisfied with that explanation after making a report on the exploding appliances.

For three days, Zesa officials said they did not have 10 litres of diesel to drive to Kambuzuma -- less than seven kilometres away -- to attend to the problem. The residents were told to buy the fuel and give it to Zesa for the trip to their suburb.

A number of residents said they found this unusual, as Zesa, a cash-strapped parastatal, had spent several billions of dollars last month splashing advertisements in the government media to congratulate President Robert Mugabe on his 84th birthday.

Only last month, Zesa chief executive officer, Ben Rafemoyo, advised residents not to pay or give Zesa workers fuel as this amounted to corruption.

The Kambuzuma incident is one of a number of cases in which residents have lost property worth trillions of dollars because of the current electricity crisis, sparked by the economic meltdown which began in 2000 after the land invasions.

A number of suburbs have gone for more than two months without electricity in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare and Zvishavane. The residents have resorted to firewood for cooking and candles for lighting, which some described as "a return to the villages".

Most now have to dig deeper into their pockets to buy firewood which, at $10 million a bundle and a candle for $4 million, are wreaking havoc on their depleted budgets.

But Givemore Gumbo of Glen View in Harare will live to regret ever lighting a candle again when there is a power cut.

Last week, he forgot to blow it out, resulting in all his belongings going up in smoke.

"My furniture, which included a wardrobe, a bed, television set, stove, blankets and clothes were all destroyed. Luckily I escaped from the fire unscathed and began to shout for help from neighbours," said a tearful Gumbo.

The fire was put out by neighbours who doused the house with buckets of water, which, while often scarce, was available on that day.

Zesa spokesperson Fullard Gwasira last week said the power utility's fuel storage tanks were empty. He said residents were well advised to provide fuel for Zesa vehicles if they want their problem to be attended quickly.

"We don't encourage people to pay money to Zesa workers but they could provide fuel... so that the fault can be swiftly attended to," he said.

Some of the residents are planning to hire lawyers to ensure that Zesa compensates them for all the appliances they have lost in the power blowouts.

Zimbabwe Lawyers' for Human Rights (ZLHR) litigation officer Tafadzwa Mugabe said ideally residents can sue Zesa but because they signed "an exemption clause" on their application for power this would present challenges.

"In terms of the law," said Mugabe, "it presents serious challenges because most residents signed a form which includes an exemption clause which forbids them from suing Zesa unless there are very special circumstances. You have to prove that Zesa was at fault."

Residents said although Zesa technicians had later assured them the problem which had led to the explosion of the appliances had been resolved, they could not risk connecting their appliances again.

Gwasira said Zesa had built-in safety components to protect its network and the consumers.

But he said if the components are tampered with it could lead to damage of household goods.

"Zesa does not compensate where damages result from a vandalism-induced problem because our system has built-in safety components that protect our system and the property of our consumers," he said.

Smaller thermal power stations at Munyati, Harare and Bulawayo have not been working at full throttle for over three years now.

If a legal challenge against Zesa for compensation failed, it would take Marvellous Sibanda another three or four years of illegally crossing into South Africa to sell her wares to raise enough money to buy another TV set and a fridge.