The Government of Zimbabwe, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), has launched an urgent multi-pronged response to stabilize the country’s power supply, following severe disruptions caused by technical faults at Hwange Power Station and the Harare substation. The resulting outages have led to increased load shedding, affecting households, businesses, and critical infrastructure nationwide.
Energy and Power Development Minister Honourable July Moyo, accompanied by the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Dr Jenfan Muswere, visited the Highfield substation on Monday to assess the damage firsthand. Minister Moyo explained that the challenges stemmed from separate incidents at the Hwange and Harare facilities, with five generation units at Hwange’s Stage 1 and 2 going offline. The Harare substation was similarly impacted by a fire, which further disrupted local supply.
The Minister assured the public that restoration work was underway, with the reactivation of some units expected by Tuesday evening and a full return to service anticipated by Wednesday. “We are doing everything to restore power. What has happened is a wake-up call on the urgent need to invest in and refurbish our ageing infrastructure,” said Moyo.
Zimbabwe Power Company Acting Managing Director, Engineer Nobert Matarutse, noted that mitigation measures are already in place, including ramped-up generation at Kariba Hydro Power Station. Additionally, contributions from net-metering clients and captive power producers are being encouraged to supplement national supply.
A statement from ZESA Holdings released over the weekend confirmed the cause of the crisis and outlined ongoing efforts to resolve it. “This unforeseen incident has necessitated increased load shedding across all customer groups,” read the statement. ZESA extended an apology to its clients and appealed for patience, pledging that engineers were working tirelessly to stabilize the grid by midweek.
The power crisis has highlighted Zimbabwe’s energy vulnerabilities and underscored the need for expedited investment in both traditional and renewable power sources. While the rural electrification programme and independent power producers are part of a long-term diversification strategy, the current outages expose the risks of overreliance on ageing thermal plants. Hwange, the country’s largest thermal facility, remains the backbone of Zimbabwe’s energy grid, and its temporary shutdown has revealed the national grid’s fragility.
As the nation waits for full power restoration, stakeholders are watching closely to see whether the recent setbacks will catalyze much-needed reforms and infrastructural upgrades in the energy sector.
