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The First Lady Amai Dr Grace Mugabe

Zvamaida Murwira and Masline Mavudzi—
The First Family has not been spared from escalating power outages that have gripped the country as it had some of its domestic electrical gadgets damaged owing to load-shedding, First Lady Amai Mugabe has said. Amai Mugabe (pictured left) said the power outages that have been caused by reduced power generation at Kariba and Hwange have left her counting losses after high voltage accompanying the return of power damaged her gadgets.

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The First Lady said this on Saturday while addressing thousands of Zanu-PF supporters at Murehwa Growth Point in Mashonaland East province as part of her nationwide meetings with people.

“Tirikuziva kuti iko zvino magetsi anongodzimadzima. Kune load-shedding nguya yese kana makuseni ipapa pandanga ndichipfeka mumba mambosviba, magetsi bhaa! Hakuna! Nekuti vamwe vanofunga kuti kwaVaMugabe hakuende magetsi. Anongoendawo zvinhu zvapera izvozvi kumba kwangu magetsi achienda (We know there is load shedding. Today as I was dressing the power went out. Some of you may think the Mugabe household is spared power cuts. We are no exception, we have actually had a lot of gadgets damaged by power surge when power is restored after load shedding),” Amai Mugabe said.

She said Government was working tirelessly to address electricity challenges through inviting independent power producers. This, she said, was in fulfillment of Government’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset’s cluster on infrastructure and utilities. She said despite the existence of illegal sanctions by the European Union and the United States, Government has not folded its arms but has come up with several innovative ways to ward off the effects of the embargo.

Government is set to engage consultants on the development of an independent power producer (IPP) for the country. A number of IPPs had been engaged by the Government to develop new energy projects but are yet to bear fruit. In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Energy and Power Development invited consultants to produce an IPP policy to establish market- oriented measures and regulatory instruments for private suppliers in the country’s electricity sub-sector.

The ministry said the consultants would provide recommendations within the current and proposed energy market designs taking into consideration the proposed regional IPP framework. “The consultancy work involves carrying out a background analysis, identifying and analysing regulatory and institutional barriers to private players or IPP to investment in Zimbabwe’s sub-sector, outlining various options for incentive measures and their potential impact in implementation scenarios,” reads part of the statement.

“This will form the basis for IPP investment in the electricity sub-sector that will promote competition at generation level so as to improve efficiency of the electricity supply industry,” It is expected to review case studies and international experience in setting up a policy framework to support investment in grid-based and off-grid renewable and non-renewable electricity generation.

“The review will help the consultant to develop strategies that will increase the participation of IPPs in Zimbabwe. Through the guidance of the Government the consultant shall develop a draft IPP policy. The policy should lay out all technical, institutional, financial and legal issues for encouraging the participation of IPPs,” the statement said.

The consultant is expected to start work within six months.