World Cup blackout for many Zimbabwean football fans as power cuts persist

HARARE – Zimbabwean’s hopes to ease their daily economic worries through watching the on-going World Cup tournament on television have been dampened by incessant power outages amid a gloomy festive period if the situation remains the same.

The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) announced weekend that it was experiencing depressed electricity generation due to faults at its Hwange and Kariba power stations.

“ZETDC would like to advise its valued customers that it is experiencing depressed electricity generation and as a result, there is increased pressure on the grid. This is due to technical faults at Hwange and Kariba power stations,” said the power utility.

“Customers are therefore advised to use electricity sparingly and to switch off all electrical appliances during the outages to minimise the risk of possible damage to these appliances.

“All stakeholders are assured that our teams are working round the clock to ensure restoration of service.”

ZETDC national manager Engineer Lloyd Jaji confirmed in an interview with ZimLive that incessant power cuts currently being experienced were due to load shedding and faults.

“The power cuts are a combination of both load shedding and faults. This is due to some challenges at some stations and we are trying to adjust the output.

“Government instruction is that we should not do load shedding that’s why we don’t have a load shedding programme,” Jaji said.

A week ago, about 12 Bulawayo suburbs went for almost 24 hours without electricity following a technical fault on a Zesa grid.

The electricity cuts have hampered business with many reporting low production and revenue.

In an interview, Adam Meki, a Warren Park 1 resident in Harare, said the power cuts have become a big inconvenience to residents in the suburb.

“It’s difficult living in this suburb because we are facing a variety of challenges; we don’t have constant running water, sewer challenges and now Zesa.

“We can’t even watch the World Cup tournament and we might have a Christmas in the dark,” he said.

A ZETDC customer service employee Edward Makove said there were challenges resulting in power cuts.

“These are challenges which we have to deal with; if you want to watch World Cup, you’ll just have to use some batteries until power is back, you know,” he said.

Enjoyed this post? Share it!