Zambia has initiated the importation of 218 megawatts of power from South Africa’s Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) during off-peak hours. This move, starting from August 1st, aims to mitigate the country’s power deficit.
ZESCO Spokesperson, Matongo Maumbi, confirmed the additional power import in an interview with ZNBC News at the ongoing 96th Agricultural and Commercial Society show in Lusaka. Maumbi stated that the importation has enabled ZESCO to stabilize the power supply, meeting the rising demand and ensuring critical installations like hospitals, mines, and other industries receive uninterrupted power.
Maumbi highlighted that ZESCO is taking measures to ensure public institutions are not affected during power rationing. The power utility company is isolating certain public institutions and has procured generators to maintain power supply during load shedding.
“So far, 22 generators have been procured and are expected to arrive in the country within the month,” Maumbi said. These generators will be installed in vital public institutions such as hospitals and market areas where it is challenging to isolate from the national grid during load shedding.
This strategic move by ZESCO aims to enhance the reliability of power supply and support the country’s essential services amid growing energy demands.
Too little too late.
Loadshedding is pure incompetence and lack of strategic planning. The Zesco head is a square in a circular hole and must be removed without delay.
What happened to the brilliant ideas our president was expounding? In the first press conference he confidently informed the nation that he had eliminated loadshedding only for Zesco to announce the following day that loadshedding was going to start. I remember one lap dog manager apologizing for “misleading” the president.
YOU 100% CORRECT
We have been crying for him and underlings to go
But as usual no one is listening
Break up and PRIVATISE ZESCO!
Privatising aint the answer unless ZESCO was in the developed states where it has little obligation to the poor. Privatisation would push up the power rates and only the upper class would be served. In Zambia ZESCO also has the role of taking power to villages and poor townships.
Waste of money. That electricity won’t even be distributed. Today is 4th, was there no loadshedding last 4 days?
– Zambia has tonnes of Maize in reserve, get donations even from starving countries. But no citizen got 2 meals a day.
– medicines are expiring in warehouses, meanwhile people are sent from hospitals to die at home.
This is no country to fight for.
I’m just curious to know where your information comes from…
Export in order to import, f..lish decision
Hakainde is a big disappointment from all angles. Period.
I recall somewhere in 2022 that they were two overzealous chaps who went on television laughing at the the South African power deficit and boasting about the 34Mwatts CEC project. Attributing all the sucess to President HH. Here comes karma. Checkmate! Humility is important bane. Pride comes before the fall.
Importation of power is a short term measure.
Try to find long term or permanent solutions.
Just team up with bilateral partners to set up
Solar power stations in every big town or city.
Not recieving aid in form of maize.
Knowing Zambia, once you go solar, the sun will disappear too.
Sunlight is abundant in Zambia. And solar panels are manufactured everywhere in Southern Africa. Why should we be relying only on Hydro-power stations? That indeed is being narrow minded.
ZESCO should have been statutory ordered to establish a solar power unit to provide alternative power to the entire Zambia. Unlike the costly nuclear and hydro-power stations, a solar power station takes months to build.
In the two years that HH has been in power we could have constructed 200 solar power stations. Lets leave solar and talk about wind. We have plenty of wind thats just going to waste. If we exploit these alternatives we dont need to import power from anywhere.
Lazy Lungu and Half baked Hichilema You are so right. A working government would have addressed the problem at both cabinet level and at the micro level.
To avoid adding to costs, HH should do away with the ministry of information. We don’t need it. At the same time replace ineffective Makozo Chikote. Then split his ministry so that Zesco is supervised by one wing while one portfolio is in charge of alternative energy with a special focus on Solar, wind and gas energy sources.
We should prospect for gas while we strategically position ourselves to gain from nearby Mozambique’s huge resources.
Kikikikikiki! Deja Vu there will be solar eclipses every week. Because of this tourists will be flocking into the country in droves.
UPND will be complaining that too many incoming flights are disturbing the president’s flights to Europe.
What I see is a nation of failures. Why did we concentrate all power generation in Southern Province when we have rivers all of the country? Oh we can only do what the World Bank or IMF tell us to do. Zambia is not the only country facing a drought and neither is this the first drought we are experiencing. But we are the proverbial farmer who put all his eggs in one basket.
There are rivers which look like there’s been no dry spell…they continue flowing without ceasing.
There is a drought in riverless South Africa too. The government worked. It created a dedicated energy ministry. The president appointed a minister, yes a black one, specifically for electricity and for the past ten months South Africa has had no loadshedding. There is a working government. And we are importing their excess power! Believe in yourselves you black people and sort out your own problems
Load shedding is as a result of umungulu, lack of commitment, ubufontini, no political will, lack of modernization, corruption and backwardness
LACK OF INITIATIVE! Always looking for solutions from abroad!!!!
Will be interesting to see if South Africa experiences loadshedding as from August – they had 4 months of no LS sofar…..
No. Its ten months. They have had load reduction in a few provinces for a week or so but economic centres such as Gauteng Kwazulu Natal and Western Cape have had no loafshedding.
Why should we take this article seriously when they can not spell Eskom correctly. Perhaps we should call them Sesco? After 1987 the name was changed to Eskom from Escom. Now you know who you are buying electricity from if what you are saying are not half truths.
Kikikikikikikiki! Ba Seshiko baletupwilafye impiya mu teleshali!
And this is the reason why Zambia is experiencing loadshedin…..corruption and kickbacks and looting of our Natural resources….How do you export in order to import???…what kind of reasoning is that??? Still zero impact….looks like someone is importing “AIR”………Musa Mwenya said the corruption he witnessed in UPND is scary
Let us see an improvement in loadshedding and boost productivity of our country, though the issues at ZESCO are inherent, and not really a CEO problem, most of these parastatals have CEO issues, where some CEOs have no clue but just believe in terrorising employees
And not really a CEO prblem ???? Are you serious MADODA
@Ufimbenuma
Thats exactly what HH said whilst in opposition….these Politicians have no shame
Reminds of one not so wise neighbour leader who sold the presidential jet for a song only to start hiring the very same jet when she travelled….so he exported electricity now he is importing sheer incompetence….
Hakainde is actually worse than incompetency. There is definitely somthing that stands between Hakainde and his soul.
We need to put Politics aside and find a lasting solution to our electricity crisis…….it can’t be Politicians making headlines every day….lets spend time brainstorming about our electricity crisis…not wasting time talking about Lungu…Mmembe….etc….
I do not blame the President for the power mess in the country. ZESCO management and ZESCO board should have done something long time ago when they foresaw power problems in the country. Instead the ZESCO management saw benefits in exporting power so that they could sustain high pay. There is need to restructure ZESCO. They should concentrate on power generation. distribution should be left to municipal authorities. This is what it was in the past.
Iwe he said he had a solution. The Kafue stations were built because what is happening was anticipated. The only question they didn’t build these stations in another area?
Shame, shame liars through and through. This crap is just to stage manage the bad decisions by this conman we have entrusted our great nation with. His interest is only his pocket. Mwanawasa was called names but he quickly showed that he was doing something for his country. The conman has no clue what to do except talk shows and self praise for doing nothing.
It’s all lack of leadership and political will. These problems have been there for years and nothing gets done. Potholes are now a norm, dry taps are normal, loadshedding is normal. We have disfunctional Municipalities. But everyday in our newspapers the headlines are about theft of public funds. Read between the lines.
This is what mingalato looks like….AFRICA WE JOKE TOO MUCH….and we wonder why Africa is wallowing in poverty despite having abundant natural resources….thieving Politicians from Cape to Cairo
And the fact that there’s no accountability…probably nothing is being imported…money will just end of at community house and he will share with his clique of thieves…Zambians are being dribbled every day…
There we go again complaining about power outages and condemning even solutions as if GRZ can manufacture rains to fill all the rivers and dams. Wise people know that anyone who likes condemning others than providing solution is a non entity we call them John isa uleko bwali. If you think I’m too malicious just follow some of them even in Jack compound their HQ where they stay and they have even failed to run katemba.