Cape Town – Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party has blamed former president Robert Mugabe for the country’s critical electricity shortage, claiming that he failed to invest in power generation, a report said on Sunday.
Speaking during an interview with eNCA, Zanu-PF’s spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa said: “The power crisis is a product of years of neglect…. The economic mismanagement of the last two decades of Mugabe and his G40 obviously is retarding the speed of recovery.”
The southern African country has long battled with outages but the problem has sharply worsened since its main generator, a hydro plant at the giant Kariba Dam, began to struggle with low water levels caused by recurring droughts.
Since last week, the authorities have been imposing up to 19 hours of cuts each day, usually turning on power between midnight and 05:00.
The latest wrench in Zimbabwe’s power crisis began at the end of November, when the hydro plant in the Kariba Dam had to be switched off for lack of volume passing through its turbines, according to the Zambezi River Authority which manages the water supply.
The blackouts have wreaked havoc on small businesses, already battered by a nearly two-decade-old economic downturn.
Senior government official Gloria Magombo said on Tuesday last week that the country was importing electricity from neighbouring South Africa – which is also suffering recurring power shortages due to old and poorly-maintained plants.
It is also supplementing supplies with imports from Mozambique and Zambia.
But Zambia, which shares the Kariba reservoir, has said it too will start its own six-hour daily power outages from mid-December.
Zimbabwe also generates power from Hwange – its largest coal-fired power station – but the plant is currently operating at less than half its capacity due to poor maintenance.
“This is a crisis situation,” Energy Minister Soda Zhemu told a news conference recently, adding that the Kariba plant will be shut down completely during the Christmas period until the water situation improves.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
Additional reporting by AFP
