Correspondent|THE Minister of Energy and Power Development Fortune Chasi has warned vandals and Zesa equipment thieves that there would be a 30-year mandatory sentence for offenders.

Speaking at the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce business review conference, Min Chasi said there had been many reported cases of vandalism throughout the country which were affecting electricity production.

“Every day, our employees at ZESA are receiving messages of vandalism of property where thieves are stealing copper cables, oil, tempering with meters and vandalising transformers.

“We need to keep on reporting cases of vandalism and encourage each other in our communities to look after our property.

“All these acts will result in 30 years of jail sentence because we can’t be struggling to work for the best whilst others are vandalising and destroying state property,” said Min Chasi.

Min Chasi urged members of the public to engage into other sources of energy as a way of sustaining the current power shortages.

“As a Ministry we encourage people to use gas and other forms of energy because the energy situation in our country remains constrained.

“Energy is the main source of business to work properly in all sectors such as agriculture, mining, health and the cconomy, therefore electricity remains an essential in the everyday life.

“We need energy for prosperity and we should work together to ensure that we achieve and develop our country’s goal towards vision 2030,” said Min Chasi.