Zimbabwe\u2019s government said on Tuesday that it would beg Eskom to urgently supply it with power after paying $10m to offset a $33m debt owed to the SA power utility.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst power cuts in a decade of between 15 and 18 hours a day. These power cuts have further escalated Zimbabwe\u2019s economic challenges as large companies are forced to import power on their own.<\/p>\n
Small business, which, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) contribute 60% of GDP, have been hardest hit, with some forced to scale down operations or temporarily shut down.<\/p>\n
Artisinal or informal miners who contributed the bulk of gold output last year have warned that production from their operations will plummet this year owing to the power cuts.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a post-cabinet briefing with journalists on Tuesday, energy minister Fortune Chasi said his government would turn to Eskom for assistance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have paid the $10m and we are going to engage our brothers in SA to say, now that we have paid, is there any arrangement that we can make to get power? I am not in a position to say how much power we will be able to get but I hope that, as our neighbours, they will be able to hear our concerns and give us something that will help mitigate our energy crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a tweet posted on Tuesday on its official account, Eskom acknowledged receiving the payment from Zimbabwe\u2019s power utility.<\/p>\n
\u201cEskom confirms that the payment made by Zimbabwe is reflecting in its account today. Discussions will continue with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) to find a mutually beneficial solution to the outstanding debt. Eskom is a commercial operation and will be guided by the contracts we have in place with Zesa,\u201d Eskom said.<\/p>\n
Last week, Zimbabwe\u2019s government rushed to announce it had paid the money to Eskom, leading it to state that the money had not reflected in its account.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe is generating only a third of its capacity owing to low water levels at its hydro-plant at Kariba Dam while aging equipment at its Hwange coal-fired plant has broken down.<\/p>\n
The power outages are also blamed on corruption as power projects that were initiated years ago have remained stunted, owing to abuse of funds and maladministration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zimbabwe\u2019s government said on Tuesday that it would beg Eskom to urgently supply it with power after paying $10m to offset a $33m debt owed to the SA power utility. Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst power cuts in a decade of between 15 and 18 hours a day. These power cuts have further escalated Zimbabwe\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[678,270,21,672],"class_list":{"0":"post-10793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-miscellaneous","9":"tag-chasi","10":"tag-energy-minister","11":"tag-eskom","12":"tag-imf"},"yoast_head":"\n