400 homes without electricity in the Mozambican province of Gaza

Around 400 homes are without power in the city of Xai-Xai, in the province of Gaza, in southern Mozambique, due to the vandalism of infrastructure, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) announced this Tuesday.

"We are experiencing a lot of vandalism of infrastructure," Santos Jackson, director of EDM in the Xai-Xai area, told reporters during a visit to the vandalized Transformation Station (PT), admitting that even some of the neighboring residents' appliances had exploded in the process.

According to the representative, in addition to the enormous financial losses, this destruction affects the planning of new connections, "because the material that was initially planned for a new Transformation Station ends up being sent to an existing station that was vandalized."

In the first six months, EDM recorded losses estimated at 873 thousand meticais (11,800 euros), as a result of vandalism in the province of Gaza, in the districts of Chongoene and Limpopo.

In 2023, Electricidade de Moçambique had accumulated losses of around 30 million meticais (426 thousand euros) due to the vandalism of electrical infrastructure in the country, according to data from the electricity company.

In 2022, EDM lost around 41 million meticais (584 thousand euros) as a result of 265 cases of vandalism registered in the country.

More than 60% of the population in Mozambique has access to electricity in their homes, according to data from the Mozambican government.