HARARE – The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) says electricity has now been restored to most parts of the country following a nationwide power blackout that plunged homes, businesses and industries into darkness on Monday evening.
By Advent Shoko
The power outage, which occurred at 6:24 p.m., came just hours before the highly anticipated FIFA World Cup quarter-final between Portugal and Spain, leaving millions of football fans anxiously waiting for electricity to return. Portugal lost the match 1 – 0 to exit the World Cup.
In its latest update issued at 10:00 p.m., ZESA said engineers had successfully restored power to most bulk supply points while work continues to fully stabilise the national grid.
What Caused the Blackout?
According to ZESA, the outage was triggered by a major fault on one of the country’s key transmission lines.
“At 1824 hours, a major electrical fault occurred on the Warren-Alaska 330kV line, leading to loss of interconnections with neighbouring regional utilities and subsequently local generation was lost due to voltage instability and under frequency.”
The fault disrupted electricity imports and affected local power generation, resulting in a nationwide blackout.
Power Restoration Underway
ZESA said restoration efforts began less than an hour after the outage.
“Restoration efforts commenced at 1901 hours, successfully getting supplies from Eskom, Kariba Power Station, Hydro Cahora Bassa and Hwange Units 1, 2 and 3.”
The utility added that significant progress had been made by late Monday evening.
“We are pleased to advise that by 2200 hours, power had been successfully restored to most of our bulk supply points across the country.”
Some Areas Still Waiting
While much of the country has regained electricity, ZESA said engineers remain on the ground working to restore full operations.
“Our technical teams are working tirelessly to restore and synchronise the remaining units at Hwange Power Station and to conduct works at the Warren Substation, which supplies parts of Harare.”
Residents in some parts of the capital and other affected areas may therefore continue experiencing interruptions until the restoration process is fully completed.
Improved Power Supply Faces New Test
The nationwide blackout comes after months of relatively improved electricity supply across Zimbabwe.
In recent months, load shedding had eased considerably compared to previous years, providing relief to households, miners, businesses and farmers, particularly during the critical winter wheat production season.
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