Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili/Brenda Zinyuke, Chronicle Reporters
MOST parts of the country yesterday went for more than 12 hours without electricity, a development which crippled business operations in Bulawayo among other areas.
A snap survey by Chronicle revealed that retail outlets in the city such as OK Supermarket along Jason Moyo closed at 2pm instead of the usual 8pm.
Simbisa Brands’ Chicken Inn was only offering chicken pieces without chips.
Other food outlets such as Nando’s, Fish and Chips and Pie Corner had already closed for business by 6pm.
Smaller businesses said they could not operate for the whole day as they did not have alternative power supplies.
Some bars in the city were also not operating due to the power outage.
A businessman, Mr Lazarus Shoko, who runs a photocopying business in the central business district, said they could not function as a result of the power cut.
“Today was a total waste for us. We came in the morning hoping that maybe it was just a normal load-shedding and power would be restored mid-morning but until the end of day we had no electricity. I had orders I was supposed to do today but as it stands, I will have to apologise to my clients,” he said.
A barber, Mr Moses Nkomo, said without electricity he could not do anything the whole day.
“This is the situation at all salons. We have lost a lot of business. This economy is largely supported by the informal sector and imagine how many people did not generate any income today. This is not good for the country, Zesa should solve this electricity problem. We can’t be inconvenienced almost on a daily basis,” said Mr Nkomo.
Contacted for comment, Zesa spokesperson Mr Fullard Gwasira referred Chronicle to a post that he posted on his Ttwitter account.
He said in the tweet: “Following the loss of Hwange Power Station at around 5AM due to a system disturbance on the interconnected Sadc Grid, there is a significant power supply shortfall on the national grid, including critical and productive sectors.”
He further posted: “The restoration of Units at Hwange Power Station has commenced. Zesa apologises for the inconvenience.”
On Tuesday, Zesa Holdings revealed that power utility had increased load shedding to Stage 2 following a technical fault at Hwange Power Station. — @nqotshili/@zinyuke98
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