Tuesday, March 19, 2024

ZESCO and ESKOM power deal seems like a non starter, get serious about Power deficit-Kambwili

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Opposition National Democratic Congress Leader Chishimba Kambwili
Opposition National Democratic Congress Leader Chishimba Kambwili

NDC President Chishimba Kambwili says Government is not serious in addressing the power deficit that the country is facing.

Dr. Kambwili has challenged Government to state the exact position on the much talked about Zesco/Eskom deal.

The NDC leader says the Zesco/ Eskom deal seems to be a none starter.

This is because of conflicting statements coming out of Eskom in South Africa and Zesco management limited.

Earlier this week, Eskom officials told authorities in South Africa that they had shelved intentions of exporting power to other SADC countries including Zambia because they too are facing a power deficit.

Dr. Kambwili is urging the Government to find a pragmatic approach immediately to hand the acute power shortage.

Dr. Kambwili has also challenged Zambians to be Pro active and speak out on issues affecting them.

Early in the week, South African Power Utility firm Eskom  confirmed that it entered into contracts to supply power to Zimbabwe and Zambia – but only if it is available.

Eskom Chief operations officer, Jan Oberholzer was responding to questions from media, following a briefing by President Cyril Ramaphosa at MegaWatt Park, on the steps being taken to resolve the load shedding crisis.

Oberholzer responded to a question about the conditions under which the power utility exports power to neighboring states.

“We have contracts that we have signed, with Zesa of Zimbabwe and Zesco of Zambia. We do export specifically to Zimbabwe at this point in time. I do not know if we have started with Zesco,” he said.

“Zesa, or the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, and Zesco are state power utilities in Zimbabwe and Zambia, respectively”, he added.

Oberholzer said Eskom signed the contract with Zesco two weeks ago.

He emphasised that this is “non-firm” power. “If Eskom needs the power, we do not export the power. The contracts have been signed as non-firm,” he stressed.

According to News24, Oberholzer also apologised to the public for the “embarassment” of Eskom having to implement stage 6 load shedding earlier this week.

 

 

29 COMMENTS

  1. As a youth league leader I gave a keynote at a Unip Congress before Party President Comrade KK and MCC and Youth Chair Kebby. In conclusion I asked KK « as youth we know we have to channel resources to support Frelimo,ZAPU and indeed ANC , I pray that should we someday need help they too will remember us » I sat down to resounding applause.

    • Soul -you were young then and believed everything at face value, well the South Africans don’t care for anyone but themselves just look at Zuma. no power is coming from SA in the near future but Zesco should have planed for this long ago but are too stupid

    • Ba gorilla Kambwili, today you want people to speak out because you are out in the cold. The video of you standing up for Lungu & government over load shedding in 2017 is doing the rounds. Zambians did not speak out then when you were paying a boat on the sea to supply power for the short fall. No power came. Zambians never even saw a picture of the suposed ship. No ship, no power. Today you want to be head

  2. Very true the nation needs to know exactly what is going on concerning this deal between Zesco and Escom of South Africa.So many stories have been told about this deal and it is very conflicting so please Mr Energy minister come out open and tell the nation the truth.

  3. Eskom has explained arrangements to supply power to Zambia and Zimbabwe on condition that adequate power is available to South Africa. Hence Zambia and Zimbabwe’s hands are tied. What magic is Ba Kambwili expecting to harvest on such essentially technical matters. Hope for generation of electricity in Zambia and Zimbabwe lies on (a) development of Batoka Hydro-electric Project; (b) completion of Kafue Lower Gorge Project; (c) expansion of Musonda Falls and Chishimba Falls power stations; (d) development of two hydro-power stations along Kalungwishi River similar to two power stations on the Kafue Gorge; (e) the development of solar power stations country-wide in areas with greater sunshine hours.

    • Mwansa Kabinga…please spare us your theories. You are talking about Batoka Gorge project when we are constantly experiencing poor rains. How are we going generate power from that project constantly? We need practical solutions. And one of them is Coal powered plants. The technology has improved hence less or very minimal pollution. Solar is good but may not mitigate our problems.

  4. Can i ask a question.
    Are zambians so stupid now that you are prepared to suffer and be beggers just to keep PF in power. When did zambians become this stupid. I think it is better we all suffer to the extent that a beggar will give us money …..shame on us all

    • @John – Zambians showed their stupidity when the man who was asked what vision he had for the country said he had “no vision.” Zambians voted for him as their leader. Later he was asked what he had achieved for the country, and he said… “not much, not much.” And stupidly they will still vote for him.

  5. Mwansa Kabinga are you not understanding the weather, you talk of all these dams to be built or made bigger, why waste money on them , there is a drought no water and with climate change it will happen again and again, we had this problem in 2015 then it went away now its back, hydro power stations are a waste of money to build, do solar (the best) or coal fired stations.

  6. Government should have rather worked with and paid mamba in full so that they start supplying maximum power into the grid. In doing so at least your money or at least part of it was going to remain in the country and not creating so much pressure on the economy. When other forein company and mines externalise their profits we are the same people who complain.

  7. Ba kambwili
    This is the best way to advise government, No insults but straight to the point.
    Like this no one will complain.
    Good check
    Don’t be like Upndown
    Party to them every thing is bad.

  8. Kabwili (Dr – paid for not studied) what are you suggesting to be the solution to this dire situation.

    You guys were in government when solutions to the problems we have should have been implemented. Now that you are out you want to play smart and look clever.

    We are in this sh*t because airheads like you.

  9. Kambwili should know better that this is a farce. We in upnd sounded early warnings about the failures of pf and incompetence at zesco which is run by pf cadres. By the way no senior management at zesco has resigned. Zambia is a depressing country run by incompetent greedy thieves. That is why my wlfe who is whlte managed to convince me to move to the UK until upnd win the elections. All I have heard since we left is suffering, hunger , loadshedding, theft. So now, apart from seeing my family, convince me why I should visit zambia over Christmas? My whlte wlfe says muleeee wanjiiii to you all, in her swiss British accent.

  10. My gut feeling tells me money has been stolen, there is no way you pay for a service and there no change in power supply.

    • I’ve never believed Eskom could sell us power when they have load shedding also. All these theatricals going on at ZESCO and its government are a sign we’re just being played around. Trust PF with your money? I smell a rat.

  11. Let the minister address the nation and
    Tell us what the government is doing to
    Sort out the loadshedding. This is not a
    One day problem. Find long lasting solution to this problem. The whole economy is dependent on power.

  12. Not long ago, Mr Chagwa bragged saying why invest in power generation when you can import power from SA?
    What is shocking is Zambians believed that. Lo and behold, the money has been swallowed up in uncertain circumstances! The sensible thing was to pay Maamba to do the repairs and at least give us near maximum capacity! One thing PF is good at is creating one crisis after another and cashing in on the crisis. Remember the gutting of City Market? There is no investigation report as to what or who caused the fire. What we know is a State of Emergency was declared and soon after, the 42 Wheelbarrows were procured at a million dollars each and that is how our friends cashed in and Zambians soon forgave and forgot! It’s very easy to take Zambians for a ride! They are blessed with short…

  13. It’s very easy to take Zambians for a ride! They are blessed with short memories and minds that are not analytical and curious to ask!

  14. Let me first by saying this is such a let down situation in Zambia. We have been independent for so long but it seems like we still need to be colonized. Other nations are talking of colonising other planets while we can’t even sort out our power needs, what a shame.

    If we are going to continue relying on hydro electric then as countries that rely on the Zambezi we can came up with a body where we put money into. This body should be made up of nations that depend on this river and other countries whose small rivers contribute water to the Zambezi. This body should be made up energy minsters and finance ministers of these countries. This body then will put in place means of ensuring enough water is going into the rivers that put water into the Zambezi. This body will be monitoring…

  15. CONTINUED – This body will be monitoring activities in the countries to ensure all is well. This will be a great partnership and will create jobs too. I think the Zambezi and other rivers get water from other sources like the Indian Ocean etc. So find ways to get more water and build canals and install pumps etc in different places to ensure the Zambezi is always full. We are very sloppy people and wasteful too, the other day I saw a picture of flooded Barotse plains, all that water could be channelled to the Zambezi but we leave it to nature to take its course. Just in case you are mixed up about nature, NATURE IS NOT ALWAYS IN OUR FAVOUR. I believe forming this partnership will help us move forward so lets stop thinking like we are in the 80s, we in 2019 and things have changed a lot…

  16. CONTINUED – I believe forming this partnership will help us move forward so lets stop thinking like we are in the 80s, we in 2019 and things have changed a lot since the 80s.

    ZESCO should never be supplying power. ZESCO should just own the power lines and let other companies be supplying power using ZESCO power lines, Let these companies be about 4 to 6 of them. So the companies supplying electricity will be ZESCO’s customers but these companies will have the rest of the country as their customers and let them then be competing with prices, some of them will work around their overheads to price their electricity that way we will solve some of these problems of power. We can’t let ZESCO continue supplying power, their business model needs to change, let them focus on building and…

  17. CONTINUED = We can’t let ZESCO continue supplying power, their business model needs to change, let them focus on building and servicing power lines and selling power to companies who will in turn sell it to the rest of the country.

    We need to seriously begin investing in Wind generation electricity and solar power. We are blessed with winds and sunshine so lets use these things. Things are not as complicated as we make them.

  18. “The NDC leader says the Zesco/ Eskom deal seems to be a none starter.”

    Mr Kambwili, there is no such thing as a non-starter deal, the new term is fake news or half truths by PF. You see, there was never any seriousness about a deal with Eskom, how do they export when they are also load shedding? Now Zesco is talking about insufficient path for the quantity of imports, didn’t they think about that when they were planning to import? Did Zesco management and government think that we would transport the imported electricity in aeroplanes and trucks?

  19. …meanwhile the $27m will disappear into thin air miraculously, yes PF have that kind of magic, after all under PF 49 houses can build themselves.

  20. By the way over four months ago the President directed ACC to establish and tell the nation the owner of the 49 houses. Nothing seems to be happening, was that fake news too?

  21. The lack of strategic planning that characterizes the PF way of governing is wholly treasonous. Every time an investor comes, Lungu asks for a massive kick back that renders the venture unbankable and off they go! Zambia will sooner than later collapse under the weight of Lungu’s faeces!

  22. Chibwili Kashimba, Kariba ilefwaya imiswe yobe to fill up and generate electricity. So please go piss out in the Kariba, ichi post malnutrition ulufumo lobe has tons of urinary water, a resource Kariba needs.

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