Story by Stanley James
ZESA Holdings has announced an end to load shedding in the wake of government interventions that saw 600 megawatts being added to the national grid after the switching on of Hwange Unit 7 and 8 power stations.
The journey has been long but finally, the nation can now boast of adequate power supplies for both industry and household use.
The development was confirmed by the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa in a post-cabinet media briefing in Harare this Tuesday where she disclosed that the move comes after the completion of the Hwange Unit 7 and 8 expansion projects.
“Cabinet received and considered the report on the energy demand and the power supply situation as presented by the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Honourable Soda Zhemu. Cabinet noted with satisfaction that ZESA Holdings has announced the end to load shedding as a result of the interventions implemented by the Second Republic thereby fulfilling the mantra: ‘Nyika inovakwa Nevene vayo/ Ilizwe Lakhiwa lkabanikazi balo’,” she said.
As part of community empowerment initiatives, the government will grant mining titles to traditional leaders following the cabinet’s approval of their request.
“Following the boom in the mining sector, Government has seen it fit to broaden the participation of communities in the sector. To that end cabinet wishes to advise the nation that it granted the request by the following traditional chiefs to acquire mining titles in reserved areas for the benefit of their communities: Tefra Mining Syndicate ( Chief Marange), Goromonzi Mining Trust ( Three Chiefs, Chinamhora, Chikwaka), Chinamhora Mining Syndicate ( Chief Chinamhora): Chiwara Mining Syndicate (Chief Chiwara), Bere SP Mining Syndicate ( Chief Bere) and Budiriro Mining Syndicate ( Chief Chiweshe), cabinet further granted the request by War Veterans for mining titles.”
A state of the industry report was also tabled during this week’s cabinet meeting.
“Zimbabwe has achieved remarkable modernisation and industrialisation milestones under the “ Moving the Economy up the Value Chain and Structural Transformation,” pillar of the National Development Strategy 1: 2021 to 2025 as presented by the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Honourable Sekai Nzenza, strategies which government is pursuing to spur industry and commerce growth include the following: improved access to funding by industry, implementation of the local content strategy, promoting ease of doing business, economic empowerment, consumer protection, quality assurance programme, tax rebates, granting of special economic zones status, support to the plastic industry among others,” said Hon Mutsvangwa.
The government also gave an update on the establishment of youth focal desks in various ministries, urging Zimbabweans to make use of them as they are meant to facilitate young people’s participation in the planning, implementation and monitoring of policies, programmes, and projects.