Zimbabwe faces a major power crisis because thieves stole 6,000 electrical transformers across the country. Energy Minister July Moyo shared this news with Parliament on Wednesday. He explained the problem when lawmaker Noah Mangondo asked about fixing broken electricity equipment. Many schools and medical centers have stayed dark for months because of these thefts.
Moyo told lawmakers Zimbabwe cannot make enough transformers locally to replace all the stolen ones quickly. The government has started using concrete poles instead of wooden ones since they last longer. This change should help protect some parts of the electricity system from future damage.
The national power company ZESA lost more than $2 million worth of equipment to criminals between January and October 2024. These thefts made power outages much worse for communities already dealing with scheduled blackouts. Thieves took almost 30 tons of copper wires worth $600,000 during this time.
Criminals also stole 10 tons of aluminum wires valued at $103,000 and drained 1,543 liters of transformer oil worth $7,700. They damaged 136 transformers, causing $848,558 in losses. Some even removed bolts and nuts from tall power towers, creating $4,300 in damage. ZESA reported 1,317 separate theft incidents that cost a total of $2,163,207.
Moyo told lawmakers Zimbabwe cannot make enough transformers locally to replace all the stolen ones quickly. The government has started using concrete poles instead of wooden ones since they last longer. This change should help protect some parts of the electricity system from future damage.
The national power company ZESA lost more than $2 million worth of equipment to criminals between January and October 2024. These thefts made power outages much worse for communities already dealing with scheduled blackouts. Thieves took almost 30 tons of copper wires worth $600,000 during this time.
Criminals also stole 10 tons of aluminum wires valued at $103,000 and drained 1,543 liters of transformer oil worth $7,700. They damaged 136 transformers, causing $848,558 in losses. Some even removed bolts and nuts from tall power towers, creating $4,300 in damage. ZESA reported 1,317 separate theft incidents that cost a total of $2,163,207.
