Zambia and Zimbabwe suffered nationwide power outages on Sunday for unknown reasons, national energy companies reported.
"ZESCO Limited informs the nation that the country has experienced a power system disturbance today, November 24, 2024, at 08:15 pm [local time] leading to a loss of power supply that has affected the whole country," the Zambian state-owned power company said in a statement posted on social media.
Zimbabwe's power utility, ZESA Holdings, also reported that the national grid experienced a system failure last night, resulting in a system blackout, and later that most of the load centers nationwide had peaked by this morning.
"Our engineers reacted and began the restoration process. We are happy to advise that as of this morning, most of the load centers have been picked [restored] countrywide," ZESA pointed out.
The cause of the nationwide blackouts in both Southern African countries has not yet been officially determined.
Technical teams are currently investigating the cause of the blackout in Zambia and are working to prevent similar incidents in the future, the country's Ministry of Information and Media said today, adding that no deaths or critical incidents have been recorded.
In late February, Zambia's president issued a statement declaring a national state of emergency due to the country's power generation crisis.