Heat is on for ZESA to replace antiquated system
By Tichaona Sibanda
4 June 2007

The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority is believed to have held a crisis meeting in Harare on Monday to review the reliability of an ageing electricity transmission system.Most areas of the country were left without power over the weekend after a breakdown of equipment at Hwange power station.

Earlier this year the general-secretary of the Zesa Technical Employees Association, Thomas Masvingwe, warned that power outages in Harare and the rest of the country underscore what energy experts have been warning about for years, that the system is heading for imminent collapse.

Joel Gabhuza, the MDC secretary for Mines and Energy, said years of neglected investment in the vast and antiquated network that moves electricity around the country, combined with steadily growing power needs, have left the nation's electricity grid vulnerable. ‘Government has known for the past ten years that Hwange power station needed to be refurbished. There is so much interference in the running of ZESA that political problems are now creating an economic crisis,’ Gabhuza said.

The President of the Zimbabwe Electricity and Energy Workers Union Angeline Chitambo told Newsreel her union was meeting with management to discuss the deepening crisis. ‘We had no electricity on Saturday and Sunday and this goes to show our concerns over the issue. We will be meeting with management (Monday) to raise our concerns and to see if anything urgent can be done to resolve the power failures,’ Chitambo said.

The Herald reported that the country needs at least 1820MW of power a day, but it is now only generating 730MW at the Kariba hydropower station.
Imports of power from neighbouring countries only total 200MW, leaving a shortfall of 890MW.