adminZanu-PF offices bombed
Herald Reporters
AN explosion rocked Zanu-PF provincial offices in Gweru on Tuesday night, shattering windowpanes, in a suspected politically-motivated attack.
No one was injured in the explosion.
While police yesterday could not disclose the cause of the explosion, occupants of the building – which houses other offices – suspect this was a pre-meditated attack on the Zanu-PF offices.
Said Midlands provincial police spokes-person Inspector Patrick Chademana: “We are still investigating the cause of the explosion which occurred yesterday (Tuesday) at around 11pm.”
Sources close to the investigations ruled out the use of petrol bombs like in previous bombings that targeted Zanu-PF offices.
Zanu-PF provincial administrator Cde Passmore Washaya said the attack could have been an act of aggression by MDC-T activists.
“We are still waiting for police investigations to be completed, but we strongly suspect that this was an act of aggression by our enemies, especially the MDC-T,” he said.
Cde Washaya said preliminary investigations showed that the explosion did not damage property inside the offices.
“It looks like the suspects missed their target and the explosion ended up shattering windowpanes without causing further damage,” he said. “We are, however, still waiting for the police to complete their
investigations so that we can ascertain the extent of the damage.”
Lake disaster: Mujuru consoles bereaved families
Herald Reporters
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Harare plunged into darkness
Herald Reporters
HARARE was last night plunged into darkness for close to three hours following a system disturbance that emanated from Zambia and affected the Kariba Power Station.
The blackout affected business in the city centre, forcing supermarkets, pharmacies and bottle stores to close early.
Residential areas were not spared.
Zesa Holdings spokesperson Mr Shepherd Mandizvidza said the disturbance on the system resulted in the loss of 740 megawatts. “Regional power networks in Southern Africa are inter-linked, so there was a system disturbance in Zambia that affected the Kariba Power Station,” he said.
Mr Mandizvidza said only Harare was affected because power lines that feed the city were disturbed.
The city was isolated from the national electricity grid to ensure adequate supplies of power to industries and other essential services.
Mr Mandizvidza said Zesa engineers and technicians were working hard to restore supplies.
“Power utilities within South Africa regional power pools are inter-networked and due to that, any disturbances in one network within one country may result in the disturbances in a network within the other country. This is what happened between Zimbabwe and Zambia,” said Mr Mandizvidza.
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