IT is increasingly becoming worrisome that some unpatriotic citizens are bent on sabotaging Government efforts to provide power to its citizenry.
This lawlessness in Kafue and Ndola should be condemned as it puts our security as a nation at risk.
It is sad that this critical sector has been beset by the twin problems of theft and vandalism of its transformers and power-line cables which has made life extremely difficult for law abiding citizens who are thrown into darkness due to erratic and unreliable power supply.
Some unknown people tampered with the major cables that supply power to Mushili, Kansenshi and surrounding areas, leaving more than 10, 000 customers in total darkness in Ndola.
This comes after a similar incident in Kafue where thieves brought down two Zesco pylons on the 330-kilovolt transmission line running from Kafue West to the Lusaka West Substation via the South Multi-Facility Economic Zone.
This problem seems to be engineered by some whose aim is to destabilise the country and make Zesco lose colossal sums of money in repairing and buying new cables and transformers to replace the stolen ones.
Zesco should work on improving its service delivery to its customers than them facing this disappointing episode where it has to spend more on replacing the vandalised installations instead of investing in other infrastructure development.
There is also no doubt that our economy is seriously threatened as industries are being shut and employees laid off because companies cannot meet production target as many operate below their installed capacity.
It would be therefore prudent for Zesco and the various security wings to work together and curb this problem because it would not end as long as the culprits are not dealt with severely.
One thing is that there is a market where these stolen items are sold and that is where Zesco and the security wings should target finding because most of these stolen items end up being supplied by these same contractors.
Obviously, no criminal would be foolish enough to take the risk of stealing transformers and cables without having an assured market somewhere ready to buy such equipment.
This is because no single individual could afford the purchase and installation of such specialised equipment without the active connivance of the officials.
It is therefore prudent that Zesco and the concerned authorities take this matter seriously and see how best they can stop these criminals.
These agencies cannot do this work alone, but assistance from the communities where these criminals come from and onus would be on the public to be vigilant and safeguard their goods by ensuring that they report unsuspecting happenings in their areas unlike keeping mute.
Action should be taken so that it serves as warning to others, especially that sabotaging is a serious offence that attracts a minimum jail sentence of 20 years when one was found guilty.
Opposition leaders have a big role to play and ensure they are not part of this act because at the end of the day, it is the same innocent people that they want votes from who suffer badly.
Look at the incident in Kafue where the hospital was affected and people, who were on various supporting machines died.
People with various businesses in Ndola have been affected by this theft that has left them crippled as their small means of business has been affected.
The news that a man identified as Joseph Kalyocha was sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour for diverting and selling imported Zesco poles worth about US$13,850 million is welcomed news but the sentence needs to be increased to prevent others from doing the same.
Hope Zesco and other security wings would act to end this vandalism-virus which should not be allowed to spread and save the electricity company from spending huge amounts of money on repairing but rather providing steady supply to its customers who endured serious load shedding last year.