Zimbabwe’s Power Outages to Worsen as Gov’t Negotiates With Mozambique
02 April 2012
ZESA is owed more that $550 million by customers and Mangoma said
disconnections of defaulters over the next few days will help raise the
money needed to reduce the debt with Mozambique
Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington
Zimbabwe’s Energy Minister Elton Mangoma says the country’s power utility,
ZESA, needs to raise $40 million by the end of the month to reduce its $80
million debt with Mozambique’s Hydro Cahora Bassa, which last month reduced
power supplies to Harare citing non-payment.
Mangoma said intensified disconnections of defaulters would help raise the
money. He said the country’s power supply situation could worsen over the
Easter break if ZESA fails to raise the funds by Friday.
The minister, who held meetings in Maputo last week with his Mozambican
counterpart and the country’s energy officials, told the VOA that Cahora
Bassa wants Harare to pay at least $40 million dollars before it can up
power supplies to Harare.
“They agreed to increase power supply once we have made our payment,” said
Mangoma. “They expecting us to bring our debt to below $40 million and they
said that is when the power supply would be increased for us.”
“For us to have reduced load-shedding during the holidays, it all depends on
whether we are able to mobilize the required resources by Friday,” said the
minister.
ZESA is owed more that $550 million by customers. Mangoma said
disconnections of defaulters over the next few days will help raise the
money needed to reduce the debt with Mozambique.
“What this means is more power disconnections for everyone,” he said.
“Although I cannot disclose the amount we have at the moment, we are also
going to apply multiple methods to raise the money and Government also has
to look for other alternatives like loans or where to borrow,” the minister
said.