By A Correspondent

Zimbabwe was thrown into a complete power blackout on Thursday afternoon after a catastrophic system failure crippled electricity supply across the entire nation, exposing once again the fragile state of the country’s energy infrastructure under ZESA Holdings.

The nationwide outage struck at exactly 2:11 PM on 3 July, knocking out power generation at both Kariba and Hwange power stations, the country’s two major electricity sources.

The blackout didn’t just paralyze domestic supply — it also disrupted regional power connections, effectively disconnecting Zimbabwe from South Africa’s Eskom, Zambia’s ZESCO, and Mozambique’s HCB, plunging parts of the southern African grid into instability.

In a statement issued hours later, ZESA Holdings confirmed the massive breakdown:

“ZESA Holdings wishes to inform its valued stakeholders of a nationwide power outage that occurred today, Thursday 3 July at 1411 hours due to a system disturbance. This has resulted in the loss of generation from Kariba and Hwange Power Stations.
Additionally, the interconnections with National Transmission (South Africa) and ZESCO (Zambia), as well as supplies from HCB (Mozambique), were simultaneously lost.”

Critics have labelled the event as yet another glaring example of chronic mismanagement and underinvestment in Zimbabwe’s power infrastructure. Despite repeated promises of reform and modernization, ZESA continues to suffer frequent breakdowns, load shedding, and delayed maintenance across its grid.

While the power utility claimed its teams were working “tirelessly” to restore services — and that some areas had already been reconnected — many Zimbabweans were left fuming.

“It’s unacceptable that an entire nation can be shut down like this in 2025. What exactly is ZESA doing with all the levies and support they receive?” asked a Harare resident during the outage.

By late evening Thursday, pockets of the country were slowly regaining power, but many areas remained in the dark, with no clear timeline for full restoration.

This latest blackout comes at a time when businesses, hospitals, and households are already struggling under erratic electricity supply, forcing many to rely on costly alternatives like generators and solar systems.

The incident has renewed calls for urgent reforms at ZESA, and greater accountability in Zimbabwe’s energy sector, where frequent blackouts have become the norm, rather than the exception.