An Energy Expert, Johnston Chikwanda has appealed to those calling for the resignation of ZESCO Board Chairperson Vickson Ncube to give him a second chance, for he has done what is unheard of in Zambia.
On Tuesday this week while appearing on HOT FM’s Hot Seat Programme ZESCO Mr Vickson Ncube told the nation that he misinformed the Head of State about load shedding, affirming that President Hakainde Hichilema wouldn’t have made his statement about load shedding ending in Zambia had he given him correct information. Mr. Ncube then apologized to the Nation as well as to the appointing authority.
And commenting on this matter in the Media Resource Zambia Whatsapp group, Dr. Chikwanda
further implored President Hichilema to spare Mr Ncube for showing humility by taking full responsibility after the misinformation.
“Mr Ncube has clearly demonstrated leadership by putting his head on the chopping block,” Dr. Chikwanda said
The Energy Expert added that it is his desire that Zambia could have more people like Mr Vickson Ncube who can go public and take responsibility which is unheard of in the country, and he has therefore called on those calling for his resignation to give him a second chance for he has done what is unheard of in Zambia.
“In a world where blame shifting has become like a popular national sport, I welcome Zesco Board Chair’s humility of taking full responsibility for the misinformation with the Alpha position,” he said
“Very unfortunate, to me this is a demonstration of leadership and I wish we had or could have people like this man- Mr Victor Ncube who can go public and take responsibility,” he added
Dr. Chikwanda has since appealed to Mr Ncube’s appointing authority to spare him, noting that he has never met Mr Ncube, neither does he know him nor spoken to him but his public action touched his heart.
Brief facts of the matter are that, on Tuesday 10th January, 2023, ZESCO Board Chairperson Vickson Ncube while appearing on HOT FM Hote Seat Programme, took blame for the loadshedding that the country is currently faced with.
Mr Ncube stated that if he had looked at the flow of the waters he would have been able to anticipate that when the country hits a certain time, the water levels will not be able to generate electricity to full capacity, adding that he would have also looked for solutions in the neighbouring countries with power as this would have enabled him to mobilise solutions to the potential problem.
“With Loadshedding there’s a failure on the natural part and the human part, on the natural part I can’t explain it, I will just mention that our hydrology is poor, our water reservoirs are also poor, no matter what we do, we have no control over the natural part, and on the human part we should have anticipated on that because in leadership theres anticipation of a problem so that when it comes, you are ready to face it, so, to that extent I shall take responsibility by stating that we failed the nation as ZESCO and as Board Chairman I take the full responsibility, I should have been better informed, and aware by measuring my hydrologies, looked at the projection and see at what point, we are going to hit a crisis, and I should have started fining for inteverning measures so that by the time the crisis comes, am ready to meet it and I wasn’t,” he explained
In responding as to whether he misinformed the President who assured that load shedding is the thing of the past, Mr Ncube admitted to have misinformed the Head of State because if he had given him correct information, the President wouldn’t have made such a statement, adding that the President does not seat at ZESCO everyday, neither does he seat on the ZESCO Board, but he rather gets information through ZESCO and if they give him information and he then uses the same information to inform the nation, then as ZESCO they must take the blame.
“The problem then comes in sometimes when you become arithmetical and not practical, you look at your generation capacity, I look at all our electricity generation stations, Kariba with 1080 megawatts, Kafue Gorge ABOUT 900 megawatts, Kafue Gorge lower with now seating at 600 megawatts, Itezhitezhi seating at 120 megawatts, Maamba with 300 megawatts and many other smaller power stations, and I look at my maximum demand of 2200 megawatts from 3400 megawatts, but am not looking at the underlying factors that will affect the generation, am just looking at the demand versus the capacity but when the circumstances in the generation change, I am blind sided, so that is where the problem comes in,” Mr Ncube disclosed
