The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) Holdings is reportedly engaged in negotiations with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to help clear US$70 million it owes power producers in South Africa and Mozambique.
Zimbabwe needs to repay the debt to avoid having supplies cut off by Mozambique’s Electricidade de Mocambique and Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa and South Africa’s Eskom.
Speaking during an interview with Bloomberg in Harare, ZESA CEO Patrick Chivaura said:
We are in the process of finalising a financing arrangement.
We have made great progress in settling our regional suppliers but we still owe them about $70m.
Chivaura said that ZESA has so far honoured an agreement made in August to pay Eskom $4 million per month to get 400MW of power in terms of a non-binding contract.
Meanwhile, ZESA has requested for a binding arrangement with Eskom and is expecting a response by the end of January.