By Rudo Saungweme

Government has assured the public that electricity supplies will soon stabilise within a few days` time since two of the three broken-down generation units at the Hwange Thermal Power Station are now expected to be back in service.

Speaking during a post-Cabinet briefing yesterday, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa stated that measures had already been put in place to repair two of the units following the breakdown of three electricity generation units at Hwange Power Station.

The three units have jeopardised the distribution of electricity which was starting to improve in the country.

The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution (ZETDC) had downgraded the ongoing load-shedding to Stage one following the resumption of the supply of 400 MW of electricity from the South African power utility, Eskom and the refurbishment of Unit 5 at Hwange Power Station which resulted in the addition of 160 MW to the national grid.

The Minister stated that to further improve electricity supplies in the country, Government was in negotiations with Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique and ZESCO of Zambia, which she said were at advanced stage.

Meanwhile during the meeting, Cabinet expressed displeasure over the increasing theft of ZETDC power cables and transformers in many parts of the country. The Minister assured Cabinet that steps were underway to introduce firm measurers to deal with all those involved in the vice.