ZESA UPDATE: Kariba Station Unit 4 Decommissioned

The total collapse of Kariba South Power Station’s Unit Number 4 following years of neglect, is partly to blame for the ongoing electricity crisis facing Zimbabwe, it has emerged.

While the official narrative is that Kariba South Power Station is currently generating significantly less power than it was producing a few months ago due to depleted water allocations, Unit 4 had been unofficially decommissioned.

A Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) source says that the now dysfunctional unit recently broke down beyond repair due to a number of factors. Said the source:

“Yes, the narrative that ZPC has utilised its 2022 water allocation and was ordered by ZRA to suspend power generation is correct. It must not be taken to be the sole and isolated reason for plunging the nation into darkness.

The crisis we find ourselves in is a result of decades of poor planning and not heeding advice that saw key machinery going for years without major maintenance. In instances where new spares were needed, engineers were forced to resort to having them poorly machined in South Africa.

Also, there was a massive exodus of qualified personnel to run these plants due to poor salaries, but ZPC did not heed advice to nip the flight of engineers and other key technical staff in the bud. Resultantly, the power plant was now in the hands of incompetent and inexperienced employees, thereby compromising efficiency.

The end result was the inevitable total shutdown of Unit Number 4, which is now beyond repair. We depleted our water allocation ahead of Zambia because our machines were not just obsolete and inefficient, but also neglected, full stop!

The source further claimed that a forensic audit to establish what transpired in the lead-up to the unit’s total collapse is underway.”