Victoria Falls in power blackout

A ZESA technical fault forced some shops to shut down in Victoria Falls' Central Business District (CBD) on Saturday and by yesterday power had not yet been restored.

The section of the CBD which was plunged into darkness houses offices of most tour operators, banks, retail shops and other businesses.

Also affected was Bata Complex, OK supermarket, Telecel shop, Imvuvu Bar, Rainbow Hotel, Rest Camp, Victoria Falls Municipal offices, Flame Lily Flats and Rainbow Flats which are closer to the CBD. At Zambezi Centre, PSMAS hospital was not spared as well.

Econet, OK Supermarket, Rainbow Hotel and Shearwater Cafe resorted to using generators.

Chicken Inn and other businesses were forced to close due to non-availability of electricity.

Zesa spokesperson Fullard Gwasira said the power outage was a result of a technical fault which technicians were busy working on. "We lost power on Saturday as a result of a failure of the ring main unit and our technicians have been attending to it," said Gwasira.

He said power was expected to be restored last night as the technicians had made progress in fixing the fault.

Last week the whole town was plunged into darkness for two days after trees fell on Zesa lines following heavy rains.