A crippling nationwide blackout plunged Zimbabwe into darkness on Tuesday, 17 December 2024, marking the second such incident in as many weeks and leaving some areas without power for three consecutive days.
The outage, which also affected neighbouring Zambia, was triggered by a surge on the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) system, prompting South African power utility Eskom to initiate a system-wide shutdown to prevent catastrophic infrastructure damage.
The lights went out across Zimbabwe just before 1 PM, throwing homes, businesses, and essential services into disarray. Restoration efforts began approximately an hour later, but a full return to power for all areas proved to be a lengthy process, taking several hours.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) attributed the outage to a “system disturbance caused by an imbalance on international power connectors,” explaining in a statement that restoration efforts were largely successful, with power fully restored to most areas except those already under scheduled load-shedding.
The statement also confirmed the commencement of annual Class ‘C’ maintenance at Hwange Power Station’s Unit 8, a routine operation intended to maintain system reliability as previously announced. ZESA apologised for the inconvenience and assured stakeholders that measures were in place to stabilise power supply during the festive season, urging the public to report any prolonged outages.
However, the situation on the ground painted a more desperate picture. Reports emerged of widespread frustration as some areas, including parts of Harare (such as Mbare) and Marondera and many others, endured three consecutive days without electricity, even after ZESA’s announcement of restored power. The prolonged outages highlighted the vulnerability of Zimbabwe’s power grid and the significant impact of disruptions on daily life.
Eskom sources revealed that the decision to shut down the SAPP system was a precautionary measure to avert “serious infrastructure damage.” This was not the first such incident; a similar surge had caused a national blackout in both Zimbabwe and Zambia just weeks prior.
The latest blackout, according to sources within ZimLive, stemmed from failures within Zimbabwe’s own infrastructure. This infrastructure plays a crucial role in facilitating Zambia’s ZESCO electricity imports from both Eskom and Electricidade de Moçambique (Mozambique’s electricity company).
Engineers explained the situation: “Electricidade de Mocambique pushes power into Zimbabwe which then conveys it to Zambia. Zambia is over-importing electricity through the SAPP system and the systems in Zimbabwe are struggling to cope, leading to an overcurrent.”
This over-reliance on imported power, exacerbated by Zambia’s more severe electricity generation shortfall, placed immense strain on Zimbabwe’s infrastructure, ultimately leading to the system failure. Because the SAPP system is monitored across all three countries, it was Eskom that ultimately initiated the safety shutdown, plunging its northern neighbours into darkness.
The underlying cause of the precarious situation is the severely depleted water levels at Lake Kariba, a critical source of hydropower for both Zimbabwe and Zambia. This low water level has severely hampered the power generation capacity of both countries.
While both nations are actively pursuing new energy projects, achieving energy security remains a distant prospect, projected to take several more years. The current reliance on imported power, coupled with the vulnerability of the existing infrastructure, leaves both countries susceptible to further disruptions.
