Becoming The Muse

Coffee With ZESA Gone Again

If you were having coffee with me, I would welcome you to my tangle of words… Have you met our old friend: Darkness…..

After enjoying uninterrupted electricity supply during the just ended SADC Summit, not only has the electricity situation returned to the default settings but it seems to have gone up a level, the electricity goes off earlier and comes back later, some days it doesn’t come back at all…. Hello Darkness my old friend….

The power utility company finally gave an update on the energy situation that the increased load-shedding is due to a technical challenge that occurred at Hwange Power Station’s Unit 8 resulting in reduced electricity generation…

The Unit which went online last year had cemented the Hwange Thermal Power Station as the country’s electricity powerhouse contributing an average of 1000MW to the grid according to stats by the power company ZPC.

If you were having coffee with me, I would say I was rather curious about the power generation statistics as they don’t seem to reflect the actual electricity availability on the ground… A quick look at the stats shows that Hwange has been performing consistently yet the only time we had actual uninterrupted power supply was during the summit… Were I to guess, I would say that maybe that’s when they actually pushed the generators to do the work and now they fixing whatever faults that caused or simply giving it time to cool down…

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that for the longest of time Kariba Hydroelectric Powerstation had been the major electricity contributor to the grid, but now a coal powered plant has dethroned it…

Its probably bad for the environment but hey if we were as reliant on Kariba as we used to be the situation would have been a lot worse given how the El Nino induced drought meant there’s low water levels for power generation.. On the upside, the low water level has helped get  work done at the Kariba spill pool in the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project.

The Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP) comprises of the reshaping of the plunge pool and the refurbishing of the spillway gates ensuring longevity of the Kariba Dam. The $294 million project which commenced in 2017 is being funded by the European Union, World Bank, African Development Bank, the government of Sweden and the Zambezi River Authority on behalf of the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe, through a combination of grants and loan.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell that when I first saw the news that the reshaping of the plunge pool had been completed I had been pleasantly surprised that the government could actually work on such a grand scale and deliver…. But ah yes, we cant really take the credit for that project…

Luxurious Presidential Villas that were supposed to house delegates during the SADC Summit werent ready in time for the summit, what will happen to them now one wonders…. Then there is our 88 million dollar Mbudzi Highway Interchange project that has been going on for what feels like forever which is still incomplete and details are sketchy….

Meanwhile the ruling party is pushing forward plans to amend the constitution to extend the presidential term limit so that the president can serve beyond his current two terms, even though the constitution stipulates that any amendment should not be to the benefit of the incumbent. The president has of course announced his intention to depart at the end of his term… what would one do if the people want one to continue being president…. but to serve the people who voted for him.

Whats been happening in your neck of the woods?

~B