Social justice advocate Tendai Mbofana has expressed grave concerns over the ongoing electricity crisis in Zimbabwe, describing the situation as “catastrophic” and unsustainable.
Speaking out on the nation’s power shortages, Mbofana emphasized that the country’s daily power outages—often lasting up to 18 hours—are severely impacting all sectors, including industry, mining, agriculture, and manufacturing. He noted that even the informal sector, which cannot afford alternative power sources, is struggling to survive.
“How are industries supposed to survive under these conditions? How is our mining, agriculture, and manufacturing sector supposed to thrive?” Mbofana questioned. “The ordinary citizenry is not feeling the effects of this crisis in other countries, but here, it’s a different story. Zimbabwe is facing similar electricity shortages, but Zambia, for example, imports massive amounts of electricity from Mozambique. Why aren’t we doing the same?” he asked.
Mbofana attributed Zimbabwe’s failure to address its electricity shortage to a lack of financial resources, blaming corruption and mismanagement of the country’s vast mineral resources. “We are blessed with abundant resources, yet these resources are lining the pockets of a few individuals in the ruling elite,” he said. “That’s why we are in this mess.”
He criticized the appointment of new ministers to address the energy crisis, pointing out that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed to explain why these changes were made or how they would lead to improvements in the sector. Mbofana argued that such appointments were purely political and unlikely to bring real change.
“Changing ministers won’t make a difference,” he asserted. “We need a paradigm shift, where we stop recycling old faces that have failed before and bring in technocrats with proven track records. We need accountability, transparency, and a genuine fight against corruption.”
However, the Zimbabwean government last year announced several major energy projects to address the country’s ongoing electricity crisis.
Key initiatives include the expansion of Hwange Thermal Power Plant with Titan New Energy building a 720 MW waste-to-energy plant and a 200 MW solar plant, set for completion by 2028. Other significant projects include the Great Zimbabwe Hydropower Project, a 5 MW mini-hydro plant at Mutirikwi dam, and the Rural Electrification Fund (REF), aiming to provide universal energy access to rural communities by 2030.
