Industries in Zimbabwe ring alarm bells over incessant power cuts

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) says the manufacturing sector has been crippled and some businesses may close due to nationwide continuous power cuts

CZI president Kurai Matsheza told ZimLive that the dire electricity cuts situation will also lead to loss of employment and revenue.

“Power turns the wheels of industry. Without it, the manufacturing sector is crippled.

“The worsening power situation does not bode well for industry, particularly as we’re in the busier period of the year.

“This situation will have an impact of lowering the capacity utilization which was trending upwards for the 9 months of the year.

“More devastating is that with these crippling power cuts, some businesses may close as they cannot sustain the losses.

“This will lead to loss of employment,” he said.

In Zimbabwe, outages are draining the already struggling economy as businesses and households go for long hours without electricity

As the country cannot afford to have such prolonged power cuts, the industry authority further urged its members to look for power generation alternatives to curb losses.

“We continue to encourage our members to look at other alternative sources of power like, diesel generators, solar etc.

“At a higher level we’re engaging with authorities to find short term solutions that can deliver power to our members.

“This covers engaging Zambians for accommodation to continue getting power from Kariba,” he added.

The state-owned Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) is blamed for poor maintenance of power stations and lack of investing more in electricity generation.

Barely two months ago President Emmerson Mnangagwa said power outages are being addressed with the expected addition of 600 megawatts from Units 7 and 8 at Hwange Thermal Power station set to provide a lasting solution.