Students blame power cuts on drought and bad governance

Tertiary education students are reeling from the effects of incessant power cuts in Zimbabwe and Zambia, University World News has learned. On average, power cuts in both countries are lasting 14-20 hours a day, or longer in extreme cases.

The power cuts, it has been revealed, are mostly affecting students from smaller institutions in both countries, and students who stay off campus. According to local sources, students at many of the larger institutions in both countries normally have power “all the time”.

“We don’t really have any power problems here,” Vanessa Magoche, a final-year political science and diplomacy student at the University of Zimbabwe, the biggest university in the country, told University World News. She stays on campus.

“I think the students that are really affected by the power cuts are those who don’t stay on campus, because I hear there is a lot of load-shedding in the various residential areas where they live,” Magoche said.

Maketsi Nare, a first-year student at (the smaller) Masvingo Polytechnic in Zimbabwe, said, “We haven’t had electricity for over 24 hours,” adding that the power cuts were negatively affecting students’ studies.

Students should advocate against power cuts

Tatenda Kutsirayi, a second-year forensic psychology and criminology student who lives in Chitungwiza, a high-density suburb in Zimbabwe, said the power cuts in his neighbourhood were “deplorable”. “Sometimes, lectures end around 6pm and you have an assignment which is needed tomorrow and, therefore, you are supposed to perform some sort of wizardry to do the assignment without electricity,” he said. Kutsirayi added that the power crisis in Zimbabwe was “reminiscent of the Stone Age”.

Esther Sikaale, a banking and finance student at Copperbelt University in Zambia, said that her institution and other big universities in Zambia, such as the University of Zambia, hardly ever have any power cuts.

“What is sad is that some students are actually complaining that students at big institutions like ours always have electricity,” said Sikaale. “Instead of complaining about how big universities are not being affected by load-shedding, I think students from other institutions should simply advocate for an end to load-shedding at their institutions.”

The power situation at smaller colleges in both Zimbabwe and Zambia is “not good”, sources from both countries said. “We experience 17 hours of power outages a day in Masvingo so, as students, we are very much affected,” Nare said. He said his institution, Masvingo Polytechnic – a relatively small higher learning institution – is affected by the power cuts. “During daylight we will be attending our lectures and can only study at night, but we cannot do that because there will be no power.”

Edna Nyamboloma Kaoma, a second-year law student at the University of Lusaka, said sometimes they go up to 24 hours without electricity. She said: “My university is affected by the power cuts because it is not a public institution. It [load-shedding] has affected me, mainly when it comes to my gadgets, because they are not being fully charged. That is affecting my studies, and I can barely use them to do research.”

Drought, bad governance cause the problems

Kaoma said electricity problems were not new to Zambia, but the situation had escalated. “Zambia has always had power shortages but what we are currently experiencing is worse than before. Zambia is experiencing such chronic power cuts because we depend highly on hydroelectric power, even after the drought we experienced, and only one company supplies electricity to more than 80% of the country.”

Kariba Dam, the main source of hydroelectric power for both Zambia and Zimbabwe, has been widely reported to be producing less power due to the El Niño-induced drought in Southern Africa.

Kutsiyari, however, blamed the power situation in Zimbabwe on bad governance. He said Zimbabwe has had chronic electricity problems since 2017, describing the load-shedding as an “overstayed visitor”.

“As to why we are experiencing power cuts, I think it’s because of the lack of priorities from the government. The [power] plants need to be refurbished and, as a country which is sunny, we expected to have had solar power plants by now but, instead, the government is indulging in a spree of buying cars for traditional chiefs every now and then, among many other ridiculous expenditures,” said Kutsiyari.