ZESA spokesperson Fullard Gwasira said that while efforts would be made to ensure that people got to watch the matches, emphasis would be put on the economic recovery. “We will try to make sure that people in certain areas get the power but economic recovery will take precedence over the World Cup. There is no dedicated plan to deal with the World Cup in South Africa. We are not exporting power to South Africa, contrary to the reports on the on-line media,” said Gwasira.
In the current power supply set-up, ZESA has been load shedding massively in order to subvert the serious power strains that the country is faced with due to a myriad of problems. In the event that ZESA successfully refurbishes the two mega stations, Gwasira said that blackouts would still continue. “If Hwange was to operate at maximum 920MW and Kariba at 740MW, there would still be load-shedding as demand peaks at about 2 200MW. It is in all our interests to conserve power so that we may minimize the effects of load-shedding especially during this coming winter peak period,” said Gwasira.
Despite the hype that accompanied the successful bid by South Africa to host the soccer tournament, Zimbabwe has failed dismally to reap any benefits.
Post published in: News