Brighton Gumbo Business Reporter
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has engaged Zesa to analyse the impact of power outages on industry following the recent announcement of increased loadshedding. The Zimbabwe Power Company recently reduced power generation at Kariba Hydropower Station from 705 megawatts to 475MW due to lower dam water levels.

The country is now producing a combined daily output of 1,300MW against demand of 2,200MW. CZI president Busisa Moyo said in an interview that industry was worried about the shortage of power for the manufacturing sector. “We’re still analysing the impact of power cuts on industries. We’ve engaged Zesa in the analysis seeking clarity on the effects of the reduced daily power generation of 450MW,” he said.

Moyo said the power shortage was likely to disrupt efforts by industry to increase capacity utilisation. He said loadshedding might lead to depressed production which could lead to further job losses.

“Employment is threatened as a result of the power shortages. The people that were reinstated after the enactment of the new Labour Law are going to lose their jobs as there’ll be no production taking place in industries due to increased loadshedding,” he said.

Moyo said low industrial productivity as a result of power outages coupled with high production costs could not sustain a huge labour force. “Companies are struggling as a result of high fixed costs against reduced production. Capacity utilisation is actually well below what we’re expecting,” said Moyo.

CZI has projected that capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector would this year go down from 36,3 percent to about 29 percent due to the prevailing economic challenges.