Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) Holdings has set in place plans to end Zimbabwe’s loadshedding problems by December 2026, while at the same time seeking to electrify the entire country by 2030.
Loadshedding has been a common feature in the country due to various problems that include constant breakdown of old power plants at Hwange, low water levels at Kariba, among many other things.
So severe were some of the loadshedding durations that they would go for as long as 12 to 18 hours on a daily basis, thereby affecting the country’s ease of doing business, as companies were being forced to turn to generators to run equipment and machines.
However, Zesa Holdings, which is now under the Mtapa Investment Fund, has indicated that it has upped its game, which will see it wiping the loadshedding problems completely through various strategies.
Speaking during the fact finding visit by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, ZESA Holdings chief executive officer Cletus Nyachowe indicated that they have intensified their focus and have engaged people to monitor the power situation 24 hours daily and do load forecasting
‘’We are looking at ending loadshedding end of this year (2026) we have taken measures. We are intensively focused on effective utilisation of the resource that we have and on playing on the market.
‘’So we used to do inactive trading, but we now have a team that is working 24 hours around the clock, doing load-forecast, looking at what energy is available on the Southern African Power Pool Market, and doing bids.
‘’Its like an auction. So we have an active team which is looking at this 24 hours a day to make sure that we don’t have loadshedding. So far its working well and we trust that its something that we will continue to do,’’ he said.
Zimbabwe has not had loadshedding for about 134 days since the beginning of the year (January, February, March and April)
The roadmap in brief:
In 2026 ZESA Holdings is looking at ending power loadshedding in the country.
In 2027 Zesa Holdings is looking at ending power imports from the region. Right now Zimbabwe is importing power from HCB and EDM from Mozambique, about 50MW and 15MW).
In 2028 Zesa Holdings is looking at becoming a net power exporter
In 2029 Zesa Holdings is looking at clearing all connections backlogs. There are people who have applied for connections who are still on the list.
In 2030 Zesa Holdings is looking at completing universal access to power by connecting the entire country.