A fire that broke out at the Highfield Substation on Sunday night has left large swathes of southern Harare without electricity, as engineers scramble to restore power following significant damage to critical infrastructure.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) confirmed the incident early Monday, stating that the blaze, which occurred on the evening of 4 May, severely damaged key components at the substation, triggering outages across multiple suburbs and industrial zones.
Areas currently affected include Southerton, Workington, Ardbennie, Willowvale, Rugare, Westwood, Lochnivar, Highfield, parts of Waterfalls and Mbare, as well as ZESA Enterprises and the ZRP Southerton police facility.
The outage spans both residential and industrial districts, disrupting business operations and leaving thousands without power.
In a bid to mitigate the fallout, ZETDC has rerouted supplies to some areas. Workington is being temporarily powered via the Kambuzuma Substation, while Willowvale is receiving electricity through Parkridge.
Nonetheless, many areas remain in the dark as technicians work “tirelessly” to replace damaged equipment and restore normal service.
“The inconvenience caused is sincerely regretted,” ZETDC said in a statement issued by its Stakeholder Relations office, adding that further updates would be provided as the situation develops.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is expected, though no injuries have been reported.
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