‘Zim should brace for more power cuts’

Ndaka Majaka

ZIMBABWE should brace for more power cuts as the country’s major power supplier – South Africa’s power utility,Eskom Holdings (Eskom) – begins implementing power cuts.

ZESA Holdings spokesperson, Fullard Gwasira, told ZTN that Zimbabwe, which has a 400 Megawatt (MW) deal with Eskom, will be negatively affected.

“Definitely, this will affect Zimbabwe. We are likely to go to Stage 2 load shedding,” he said.

“You see; Eskom has declared an emergency which means they would not be able to give us as much as we would like to have or what’s contractual.

“What it basically means is that our supplier is facing challenges meaning they won’t be able to meet their end of the bargain. We will mostly be affected with the quantum that has been reduced in terms of exports for Zimbabwe…”

Under Eskom’s 400MW power deal with Zimbabwe, “non-firm exports are reduced to zero and firm exports (50MW) are reduced proportionally in accordance to the load shedding stage.”