At least 8,000 people in the town of Moatize, in Tete province, central Mozambique, are without electricity due to the vandalization of medium voltage poles.
According to the public company Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) announced on Wednesday, September 20, these are residents of the Chithatha and Capanga neighborhoods, who have been facing the problem since Monday.
“At the moment, equipment is being mobilized to replace the vandalized material and ensure that the normal electricity supply is restored as soon as possible to the affected customers,” said a statement from EDM.
The company has pointed to energy theft and the vandalizing of electrical infrastructure as the company’s “biggest challenges”, warning that the situation threatens the achievement of the goal of universal access to energy for all Mozambicans by 2030.
In 2022, according to figures released in December, EDM lost around 41 million meticais as a result of 265 cases of vandalization of electrical infrastructure in the country.
Adding up the losses from energy theft and vandalization of electrical infrastructure over the last four years, the institution “lost the opportunity to supply energy” to more than 500,000 new customers, EDM said at the time.
