Bulawayo endures 24 hours without electricity

Several townships in Bulawayo have endured more than 24 hours without electricity.

Some of the affected areas include Lobengula, Magwegwe, eMganwini and Nketa.

Power went off on Sunday around 2pm in what most residents thought where routine load shedding exercise.

However, well into the night there was still no electricity.

Power was only briefly restored around 2am and cut at 6 am sharp and to be switched on around 2pm, residents said.

"We are now worried about our perishables stored in fridge's. They will go bad due to long hours without ZESA," said one Nketa resident.

In Harare, there are also reports that at  Avondale, electricity was switched off on Sunday morning and in the afternoon at Avonlea.

It was not immediately clear whether the extended hours with no power are due to an electrical fault.

However, early this month, ZESA said power generation at Kariba Power Station was expected to be reduced by over 36% to 475 megawatts (MW) due to depleted water resources from the Kariba Dam.

This is set to worsen the power crisis in the country.

Kariba Power Station is a hydro-power station with an installed capacity of 750MW, the biggest power plant in Zimbabwe.