Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa)’s Hwange and Kariba power station on Wednesday shut down resulting in severe power cuts in most parts of the country including Harare.
The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), a Zesa subsidiary, blamed the shutdown at 6am to system instability on the transmission line from Mozambique.
Although areas like Bulawayo were spared, the rest of the country including Masvingo, Kwekwe, Gweru, Kadoma and Redcliff went without power for several hours.
ZPC chairman Richard Maasdorp said indications were the disturbance originated from the transmission line from Mozambique.
“It would appear that this was a severe shock as it also impacted on the Kariba North Bank station (Zambia),” he said a statement.
He said by afternoon on Wednesday, all Kariba units were back on the grid while one unit had been revived at the Hwange station.
“Hwange takes a few days and this period may have to be extended due to the scarcity of diesel in the country,” he said.
In Harare, hundreds of people reported for work late because of serious traffic jams caused by the power cuts.
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For Masvingo the situation was worse as the city had gone for two days without electricity and water. Retail outlets and butcheries said they recorded heavy losses as a result of the power outage.
Kwekwe and Redcliff were also hit by the power blackout that affected strategic areas like hospitals and major chrome smelter, Zimasco and other companies.
