South Africa is considering a proposal put forward to
increase power exports to Zimbabwe after high-level talks between the two
countries, a senior Government official has revealed.
Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi said
prospects of the resumption of power imports from South Africa will be
announced soon, while South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy
Gwede Mantashe is set to table Zimbabwe’s power request before his Government.
Minister Chasi was recently in South Africa to finalise an
electricity import deal with Eskom as Government moves to reduce power
shortages.
His trip to South Africa follows fruitful discussions
between President Mnangagwa and his South African counterpart, President Cyril
Ramaphosa. Critically, the discussions come after Government paid US$10 million
as part-payment of a US$33 million debt to South African power utility Eskom.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the second batch
of Zupco buses in Harare yesterday, Minister Chasi said he had fruitful
deliberations with his South African counterpart, Minister Mantashe.
“In my discussion with Minister Mantashe, I underlined the
importance that Zimbabwe places on the need for us to work out the debt that
exists between us and also the need for us to be able to access power.
“I can confirm that initially we had our technical team who
went to meet Eskom of South Africa. These are senior people from Zesa and also
from the Ministry of Finance and my ministry and they did a lot of work.
“We discussed the issue of the debt that exists between us
and also the dire situation of power in this country.” Herald
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