Zimbabwe: Country hit by four days of blackouts

Cape Argus (SA), 18 July

It's horrible, says Zimbabwean, as country hit by four days of blackouts

By Thabo Mabaso

For the past four days, Zimbabwe has been hit by an electricity blackout that has plunged the country into darkness and exacerbated the suffering of people already reeling from an ever-deepening economic and political crisis. A source from Zimbabwe, speaking to the Cape Argus on condition of anonymity, said power availability had been very intermittent since the weekend and was mostly accessible for periods of four hours in the evenings. "It is difficult for the man in the street. We can't afford to run a generator, but running one is quite useless anyway because there is no fuel throughout the country," said the source, who feared identification could result in retribution from Zimbabwe's feared security police. Critics of President Robert Mugabe's government have reported routine assaults by supporters of the ruling Zanu PF and members of the security services over the last few years. The source said the current blackouts were the worst to hit Zimbabwe in a long time. On previous occasions the outages would, for instance, affect the country once a week. This time, the blackouts had continued unabated for four consecutive days. "It is horrible. We can't cook; there is no electricity, no gas. And when you get to work you can't do anything, because there is no electricity," she said. "All we have been told is that the power cuts are due to load-shedding to irrigate wheat." Kumbirai Mafunda, the acting political editor of Zimbabwe's independently owned Financial Gazette, said the electricity cuts had mainly affected high density areas. He added that the cuts could be the result of a shortage of coal to fire up the country's power utility company.

The lack of foreign currency reserves has also impacted on the importation of spare parts and equipment to repair outdated machinery at the power utility. Last week Zimbabwe announced that it would import coal from Botswana. The Financial Gazette has speculated that the persistent power outages could affect the irrigation of the country's much-needed wheat crop. "The power cuts have forced families to use firewood to cook. The cost of firewood is, however, beyond the means of most families. "The consequence of these cuts to families has been devastating. What is worse is that there is no indication of when the problem will be sorted or power restored," Mafunda said. Meanwhile, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has cited Zimbabwe as one of 28 countries in the world facing food shortages over the coming year. In a statement yesterday, the FAO estimated that the production of maize, a staple of many households, was expected to decline by 43% in Zimbabwe. "Lower food production and rising domestic and regional prices are expected to adversely affect the food security of more than 4 million vulnerable people in Zimbabwe," the FAO said. Yesterday, the US also announced that it would donate 47 400 tons of food aid to Zimbabwe. The US government said its food aid efforts would feed about 1.4m people until the next harvest, in early 2008.