Zesco says it is yet to determine what led to last night’s unplanned countrywide blackout which affected both Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Speaking at a press briefing this morning, the utility’s acting managing director Justin Loongo stated that the Southern Power Pool will soon constitute a panel of experts who will need to determine the cause of the blackout in the two countries.
“Zambia and Zimbabwe suffered the same blackout. So we need to dertermine where this blackout started from. Zambia went down, the entire system collapsed and Zimbabwe went down and the entire system collapsed,” stated Loongo. 
He also announced the reduction of power supply from recently adjusted seven hours, stating that the country will have three to five hours of power due to the blackout.
Loongo further revealed that Zesco has been importing power from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe per month at a cost of US$48 million.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Energy Permanent Secretary Peter Mumba disclosed that during the power outage, there were two miners that had been trapped underground and were fortunately rescued with an alternative power supply.
“We wish to thank the Copperbelt Energy and Ndola Energy for collaborating with Zesco in ensuring that alternative power was provided to the mines that had people trapped underground as Zesco was doing the restoration process,” he said.
“We also want to thank the entire nation for your understanding and we will endeavor to keep the country informed of any eventualities. We will do everything possible to restore power so that we are not inconvenienced in any way.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary Thabo Kawana assured the general public that no life was lost in public hospitals countrywide during the outage because alternative emergency power systems were utilised during the incident.
