ZESA chairman Sydney Gata is said to have had some harsh words for the permanent secretary of Finance George Guvamatanga and the ministry of Finance in general. He blames the Finance Ministry for failing ZESA and causing load-shedding because the ministry reportedly refused to provide the necessary finance guarantee for independent power producers to boost electricity generation for Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe will need to seriously boost its electricity production if the country has any hope of becoming a middle-income economy as the government wants. Currently, we produce less electricity than we need and as a result, ZESA has either had to import expensive electricity from neighbouring countries or impose a load shedding regime. Currently, they are using a combination of these techniques.

Roping in independent power suppliers would be a more sound strategy. For that to happen those who want to invest in independent power generation will need some guarantee that when they set up shop they will get paid an economic tariff by ZESA. Power plants are long term investments that require a lot of capital outlay. Without guarantees from ZESA and or the government very few would consider becoming independent power producers.

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