By A Correspondent- Deputy Energy minister Magna Mudyiwa has trashed reports alleging that Zimbabwe is in darkness.

Responding to a question from Kwekwe central legislator Masango Matambanadzo, the energy minister said:

“…..The first thing that I would like to say is that, it is not true that Zimbabwe is in darkness, the nation is not in darkness but the challenge is that we do not have enough electricity to cater for our country for 24 hours a day and seven days a week or throughout the day.  

This has affected the domestic and industrial use of electricity and culminated to the introduction of load-shedding schedules, especially during peak hours, from 6am to 10pm and from 6pm to 10pm.  These are the time frames which require a lot of electricity.

Matambanadzo mentioned the reasons, yes, the Hon. Member knows that the water level or water table at Kariba Dam is critically low.  In Hwange, there are supposed to be six units at any given time, however, only five units are working.  

The other units are not working properly. They need to be refurbished; for example, today, there are only three units that are working at the Hwange Thermal Station.  For that reason, we have increased load-shedding in many places.  However, it does not mean that all these places are in darkness, it is not true that they are in darkness.  

We are trying our best to make sure that we utilise the energy that we have sustainably, especially in commercial farms, where producers of wheat are irrigating their crop right now.  What I wanted to clarify is that, the nation is not in darkness.”