The Future of Energy and Power in Zimbabwe

The dam wall on the Zimbabwean side on one of the world biggest dams, Kariba is weak and requires urgent repairs to prevent the wall from collapsing, Energy and Power Development Minister Elton Mangoma said Monday, according to the local newspaper, The Zimbabwean.

The Kariba Dam from an aerial view.

The threat which this has is mainly that if it collapses we will have nothing of our already complicated energy and power distrubution.

Many Zimbabweans have been highly affected by the constant power-cuts which have become the order of the day.

Although Mangoma alluded to the point that work had already started and was being embarked on presently, one would wonder if this is really so as the government has a US$260 million outstanding debt it owes to the Zambian government for part of the infrastructure it inherited at independence.

The Zambian energy minister, Chris Yaluma was quoted in the Zambian media confirming that a commitment had been made by the Zimbabwe energy minister to settle the long overdue debt. Mangoma himself added that the country was not in a position to re-pay that debt as it was very much incapacitated. READ MORE: ZIMBABWE'S INCAPACITY TO RE-PAY THE ZAMBIAN DEBT

With such a debt, one wonders how they can really effectively supply power to the power-stranded Zimbabweans. What is the future of Zimbabwe in term of power and energy? Where will we be in the next 5-10 years?

The Kariba dam on the Zambezi River is one of the largest dams in the world, standing 128 m tall and 579 m long. The dam was built by Italians between 1955 and 1959 during the colonial time when Zimbabwe was still called Rhodesia. It borders with Zimbabwe's northern neighbour Zambia which also generates electricity on the dam.
At the time of the construction of the dam several people and animals were killed forcing authorities to embark on an "Operation Noah" aimed at saving thousands of animals while over 57 000 people were relocated to safer areas away from the flooding rising water
According to the same source, Mangoma said that the Kariba Hydro Power station generated about 735 Megawatts to 750 Megawatts.