Story by Yolanda Moyo
ZIMBABWE’S abundant coal reserves, vast water bodies and untapped solar and wind potential present immense opportunities to power regional growth, Vice President General (Rtd) Dr Constantino Chiwenga said on Wednesday as he officially opened the 2026 SADC Sustainable Energy Week in Victoria Falls.
“Our abundant resources of significant coal deposits, massive water bodies, and untapped solar and wind energy offer immense opportunities,” he said, adding that Southern Africa must leverage its natural endowment to drive industrialisation and energy security.
Speaking on behalf of President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, VP Chiwenga told delegates that the global energy system was undergoing a structural transformation, with capital flows shifting and supply chains being reconfigured.
“Southern Africa must not be a spectator to this transition, we must shape it,” he said. “The region is ready to move from dialogue to delivery.”
He said the theme of this year’s meeting, “Driving Regional Economic Growth through Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency”, reflected the urgency of adapting to a world increasingly defined by climate commitments, net-zero targets and rapid technological change.
“Renewable technologies have achieved cost parity and in many cases, cost superiority over conventional generation,” he noted, citing an 80% decline in solar photovoltaic costs over the past decade and significant reductions in wind turbine prices.
Vice President Chiwenga said the global clean energy transition was generating millions of jobs, with Africa projected to create more than 3.3 million direct and indirect green jobs by 2030, particularly in solar energy value chains. Zimbabwe, he added, had already created “numerous jobs in renewable energy and related industries”.
Despite Africa holding nearly 60% of the world’s best renewable energy resources, he said, the continent had harnessed only a fraction of its potential and continued to face power deficits and a significant investment gap.
“We must embrace all energy sources boldly,” he said, questioning whether Africa would remain “an extraction zone, a raw material supplier, or become a value-adding industrial hub in the clean energy value chain”.
At regional level, the Southern African Development Community, with more than 340 million people and a combined GDP exceeding US$720 billion, remained energy-constrained, he said. Power shortages, ageing infrastructure, transmission bottlenecks, fragmented regulatory regimes and an infrastructure financing gap estimated at US$83 billion per year were limiting growth.
Regional frameworks such as the Renewable Energy Strategy and Action Plan, the Energy Efficiency Strategy and the Southern African Power Pool were critical, he said, but must now shift “from strategy documents to implementation pipelines”.
Zimbabwe’s own electricity access rate stands at about 62%, with rural access slightly above 20%. Under National Development Strategy 2 and its Energy Compact, the country is pursuing universal access by 2030 through liberalising power generation, enabling direct power purchase agreements, expanding private sector participation in transmission and distribution, and accelerating rural electrification targeting universal coverage of schools and clinics.
VP Chiwenga highlighted waste-to-energy initiatives in Harare and decentralised renewable systems such as mini-grids as key to rural transformation. He also underscored regional hydro projects including Batoka Gorge, Devil Gorge and Mupata Gorge and expressed support for Mozambique’s Mupandanguwa project and the Inga Dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo to strengthen cross-border interconnections.
Addressing financiers, policymakers and academics, he called for regulatory certainty, policy harmonisation and accelerated capital mobilisation to unlock scalable renewable projects.
“Southern Africa possesses the resources. We possess the market and the strategic geography. What is required now is execution, discipline and investment acceleration,” he said.
“If we act decisively, Southern Africa can transition from energy deficit to energy surplus; from commodity exporter to industrial hub; from climate vulnerability to climate resilience. Clean energy is no longer a future aspiration, it is an immediate economic strategy.”
