Officials from the Zesa Holdings Loss Control Department stormed Harvest House, the national headquarters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) following reports that some tenants were not paying their electricity bills after tampering with meters.
The Douglas Mwonzora-led MDC took control of the iconic opposition party headquarters after a prolonged battle with Nelson Chamisa who had taken over after the death of former leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mwonzora’s spokesperson on Wednesday dismissed reports that the party had tampered with power meters and was not paying electricity bills.
“Its unfortunate that our politics in Zimbabwe has become so dirty that rivals create such malicious stories to score cheap political goals.
“Noone has been stopped from entering Harvest House and we do not know why the police were involved but all the same the Zesa officials found nothing amiss at our offices,” he said.
National police spokesperson Paul Nyathi told the NewsDay that while Zesa had reported the tampering of electricity meters, they had advised the power utility to provide more information.
“There are some officials from Zesa Holdings who have reported illegal connections by tenants at Harvest House and they have been advised to follow due procedure on the matter,” he said.
However, sources who spoke to NewsDay on conditions of anonymity said Zesa officials received a tip-off from anonymous sources that electricity had been tampered with at Harvest House.
“The people who are part of the ongoing battles within the MDC tipped the Zesa officials who, however, tried unsuccessfully to access the building after being blocked by about 30 rowdy youths and they sought the assistance of the police.
“It has since been discovered that the MDC had been accessing electricity for free after bypassing the system in four of the building’s five floors,” the sources said.
Zesa last year launched “Operation Musabe Magetsi” targeted at individuals and entities that were not paying for electricity in Zimbabwe.
The power utility is owed millions of US dollars in unpaid tariffs across Zimbabwe.