By Savious Madanhire
The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), has announced a creative arts competition aimed at addressing the pressing issue of vandalism in the power and energy sector.
According to a notice placed in The Sun, the competition which is open to researchers, innovators, and artists, invites participants to submit original works that tackle the theme of vandalism in the energy sector.
The initiative seeks to raise awareness about the consequences of vandalism and promote a safer and more sustainable energy future.
However, submissions will be accepted in various formats, including audio files for jingles, video files for films and written scripts for drama and poetry.
Entries will be evaluated based on creativity, relevance to the theme and potential impact on raising awareness using poetry, photography, digital art, drawing, dance, jingles, drama, skits and videos.
The competition will be held during the University of Zimbabwe’s Research Innovation and Industrialization Week, scheduled to take place from 30 October to 1 November 2024.
Therefore, interested participants must submit their entries by 24 October 2024, hence the competition is an opportunity for creatives to showcase their talents while contributing to a vital cause.
The University of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Electricity and Distribution Company look forward to receiving innovative and well-thought submissions that will help combat vandalism in the energy sector thus participants should express their innovative artistic flair.
In fact, the ZETDC is losing an estimated US$9m annually due to the scourge of theft and vandalism, a scenario that has caused thousands of consumers to go without electricity as a result of vandals tampering with the power infrastructure.
From 2019 to 2024, the vandalism, which includes theft of copper and aluminium conductors, cables, transformer oil, pylons and transformers, has been escalating.
Additionally, vandalism and theft of electricity infrastructure has also resulted in increased faults leading to frequent lengthy power outages that some electricity consumers mistake for load-shedding.
The level of vandalism of electricity infrastructure is now outstripping the replacement rate, which is constrained by cash flow challenges.
