Thread: Minister Katali and the flying pigs

When the government was given a minor shake-up after the elections last year, I thought that we would have some people in government who believed in "the truth; the whole truth; and nothing but the truth".

That has not happened as the new minister of mines and energy seems to be even more likely to listen to Big Bad Mugabe than his predecessor.

Katali in Parliament (April 20, 2010):

I have noted with concern recent media statements that have appeared in local newspapers alleging that the Zimbabwean Government is contemplating decommissioning the Hwange Power Station because of frequent breakdowns and that the Zimbabwean Government has directed ZESA to suspend power supply to NamPower in events the power station is down.

The Zimbabwean Government has strongly refuted the above allegations as devoid of any truth and their official position on this matter was communicated to my office on 29 March 2010 refuting the media speculations. The Zimbabwean Government has also informed us that the Hwange Power Station will be returned to full production capacity by October 2010

Meanwhile back at the media Ranch the following comments were obtained:

(Reuters/Sapa) Zimbabwe's Hwange coal pit is set to run out by 2012.

Two comments straight from the horse's mouth:

"At the present moment the power we are generating is quite low and the electricity imports are far below consumers' needs, there is depressed generation at Hwange power station as only two of the six power units are operational and from a maximum capacity production of 920 MW at Hwange power station we are only producing 190 MW of electricity," Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) spokesperson, Fullard Gwasira said late Feb 2010.

ZIMBABWE was considering decommissioning six generation units at the 750MW Hwange thermal power station, which currently produces 50MW due to recurrent breakdowns of its ageing plants, a minister said yesterday (3/3/2010). Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube said the government had continued to give money to power utility Zesa to fix problems at Hwange, but generation remained low. “As of the end of last week, it (Hwange) was delivering 50MW, which basically means it’s not in play at the moment,” Ncube told a group of business leaders in Harare.

We end up with another quote from Reuters:

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's state power utility ZESA Holdings has extended electricity cuts after a complete loss of generation at the Hwange thermal plant, the company said in a statement. (Sat Feb 20). ZESA said Hwange had been hit by a series of faults on the regional power grid, leaving the plant unable to produce any power. "These forced outages caused complete loss of generation at Hwange and in the process resulting in major equipment damage," the statement said.

So far, so good.

The Hon Katali has gone on record that his counterparts in Zimbabwe have whispered into his ear that Hwange would be back at full production in October.

I would like to know:

1. October of what year? Definitely not 2010!

2. Who is paying for this miracle?? Definitely not bankrupt Zimbabwe and I think Nampower will also apply a bit of "Once bitten, Twice Shy"!