VERY few people in Harare are aware that life in the plush suburb of Mount Pleasant can be very unpleasant at times. One would think the people behind those leafy residential stands are the happiest in Harare.

To get a clear picture of how life is in Mount Pleasant and many northern suburbs in Harare, one should talk to people like Custon Mutoti, the general manager for Barbour's department store in the capital.

For Mutoti and many other residents in the Groombridge area of Mount Pleasant, home is not the best place to be.

"Most of the time we have no electricity and this is a major setback, both at home and for our businesses in the area.

"At times we go for days without power and whenever we get it, it is usually at 10pm to 5am, when most people are in bed," Mutoti said.

When the problems started worsening, Mutoti and his neighbours understood the explanation by authorities at the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) that this was due to a problem in Kariba that was being attended to.

But when it continued to get worse even after the completion of the maintenance works and when they gathered other parts of the capital were not experiencing the same problems, Mutoti and his neighbours got worried.

"I believe this is discriminatory. It is very unfair because some areas are not affected.

"I am so bitter because we have been bombarded with all sorts of promises, but it seems our situation is actually getting worse by the day.

"I am not a politician, but I am put under pressure to mobilise other residents who are also at a disadvantage like me. There is no fairness. We need answers. I am very angry as a resident; as a citizen of this country to be experiencing all this."

Other residents in the area share the same concerns.

One of them, Phineas Fundira was forced to suspend his small communications business after going for months without power.

"We went for more than 11 weeks without power. Supplies were only restored this week on Monday, but still we do not have power most of the time," Fundira said.

"I run a small business here, but I was forced to dismiss employees because our work had ground to a halt.

"I was spending too much money on fuel for the generator, but at the rate things were going, I would be broke by now."

Although statistics were not immediately available, residents said there have been rampant thefts of mostly borehole pumps, electric motors for gates and generators.

Ward 17 councillor Warship Dumba said the power cuts were inconveniencing residents, and Zesa was not helping the situation by asking residents to "donate" replacements for stolen transformers.

Zesa spokesperson Fullard Gwasira said of late, it has been "problem after problem" for the power utility.

And it is not the Mount Pleasant residents alone who are experiencing the ever increasing load shedding.

"In October, we had maintenance works at Kariba, which went on until mid-November," said.

"Just after we had completed the maintenance works and everything seemed to be getting on track, there was a technical fault on the Mozambican side and this meant we couldn't import power from Mozambique."

The Mozambican fault has since been resolved, but the power outages are still with us. Enter the rainy season.

'The problem now is the rains. During the rainy season there is a high failure rate, especially for joints.

"This generally affects all our customers, not necessarily Groombridge," he added.

Gwasira said such lengthy outages like in Fundira's area are a result of the theft of transformers.

"Our greatest challenge at the moment is vandalism of transformers," he said.

"Right now the country needs about 2 000 transformers and that figure rises every day.

"The cheapest transformer costs between US$8 000 and $10 000.

"As a company, we do not have that kind of money readily available to replace the transformers."

Combined Harare Residents' Association (CHRA) chairperson, Simba Moyo said what was worsening the situation was the failure by the authorities to give an explanation.

"This is clearly not load-shedding, it is a blackout," said Moyo.

"We expect Zesa to explain to us what is happening.

"At the moment the power just goes, there is never an explanation and no one seems to understand what is happening.

"It is important for them to at least keep us informed."

But on the unavailability of information, Gwasira has one piece of advice to Moyo and other residents: they should watch state television and listen to state radio.

He did not say what they should do when there is no electricity to power radio and television sets.

Moyo said they had held consultations with Energy and Power Development Minister Elias Mudzuri, who pleaded with the residents not to boycott paying Zesa rates.

Mudzuri was not available for comment yesterday.

For some time now, Zesa has been struggling to restore normal supplies in most parts of the country.

At some point, the power utility appeared to have run out of options to get back on its feet.

The situation was worsened by the failure to come up with and abide by a clear and realistic pricing regime.