'Zimbabwe's rolling power cuts to go beyond August'

ENERGY and Power Development minister Zhemu Soda yesterday warned that the country may endure rolling power cuts beyond August due to depressed generation capacity.

Addressing a post-Cabinet briefing, Soda said: "We had a serious situation on power provision due to a number of reasons. We lost one unit at Kariba power station, which is unit six. That unit will be restored by August 12."

Zimbabweans are going for several hours without electricity.

Power utility Zesa Holdings last week issued a notice warning of prolonged power cuts.

But Soda said government was making frantic efforts towards easing the power cuts through imports and rehabilitation of the Hwange thermal power station.

Addressing the same meeting, Local Government minister July Moyo denied charges of interfering with operations at councils, including dictating how they should utilise devolution funds.

Opposition-led councils have been accusing Moyo of interference and influencing the use of devolution funds.

"We have not been forcing anyone on how to use devolution funds but we have been checking if they have been used properly," Moyo said.