Never rains but pours as Zimbabwe faces energy crisis

An escalating energy crisis has pulled the plug on hopes of reviving Zimbabwe's economy as production grinds to a halt in a manufacturing sector already battling the impact of sky-high inflation.
Although central bank chief Gideon Gono said last week that shelves would soon be full again after a controversial pricing crackdown, analysts say the power deficit will accelerate the meltdown as inflation nears 8,000 percent. "Because of electricity shortages we lose everything," said John Robertson, an independent Harare-based economist.
"Production time is lost as well as export revenue. We are now importing almost everything." Manufacturers in Zimbabwe have long had to contend with a lack of foreign currency and a lack of spare parts, even before the government imposed a ceiling on the amounts that businesses and retailers could charge in June.
Unable to cover their costs, many producers of household staples such as bread and washing powder simply pulled down their shutters.
While Gono has warned the government must in future allow for "an environment that respects the viability of producers of goods and services," the shortage of power means that a return to full production is unlikely. Workers in industrial areas of Harare are often seen sitting outside their work places or milling around after power cuts, in some cases lasting for days, have brought factories to a halt.
The situation has visibly worsened in the last three weeks after the country's neighbours reduced supplies because of long-overdue debts. "There are companies which were down for four days last week and others were just operating on an on-and-off basis," said Calisto Jokonya, president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.
Obert Nyatanga, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), said that the power utility is operating at just over 50 percent. "We are operating at 55 percent of our requirements including imports," Nyatanga told AFP, attributing the outages partly to rampant vandalism.
"We expect the situation to improve but you can not plan for anything as we are now approaching the rainy season which causes more problems. "Yes, there are electricity shortages, but this is also caused by vandalism of equipment and theft of cables."
The situation is also being partly exacerbated by Zimbabwe's struggles to meet payment demands from neighbours such as Zambia and Mozambique which it has come to rely on for power supplies.
Last month, Mozambique reduced power supplies to Zimbabwe from 300 megawatts to 195 megawatts due to a 35 million dollar debt, which Nyatanga said had since been paid. A government official who refused to be named said Harare has paid 20 million dollars to Mozambique.
The impact of the power shortages can also be seen in the mining sector. It is Zimbabwe's major foreign currency earner, at some 700 million dollars, but is operating at only 30-50 percent of capacity due to the power crisis.