Power play: Zimbabwean president in bid to block SA from taking over foreign electricity deals
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Loading... - Collins Mwaniki
- 02 Aug 2022
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Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa will visit Mozambique and Zambia in a bid to save the country's electricity import contracts that are being eyed by Eskom.
Mnangagwa's trips come at a time when South Africa, which is undergoing an electricity crisis, seeks to replace Zimbabwe as an importer of electricity from Mozambique and Zambia.
"This week I am paying a working visit to Mozambique. In the coming weeks I am likely to meet president [Hakainde] Hichilema of Zambia in Livingstone. Both sister countries supply us with power," Mnangagwa wrote in his weekly column in the state media.
He said:
"I will engage my colleagues with a view to ensuring our power imports are secure and uninterrupted."
Mnangagwa noted that most of Zimbabwe's power needs are from the mining sector.
"Even more unsettling is the fact that the bulk of the power demand is coming from the mining sector, including from projects for key minerals like gold, platinum, chrome, coal, diamonds, and lithium," he said.
Zimbabwe's contracts with Mozambique’s Electricidade de Mocambique and Zambia’s Zesco were due to expire at the end of July. What makes the situation precarious for the renewal is that the country struggles to pay its monthly obligation of $6.3 million (R104 million) to Zesco for the imported power.
Sydney Gata, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, warned that Zimbabwe "will stand to lose heavily as these contracts are long-term and at a competitive price". Read More…
