In Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has demoted the country's Energy and Power Development Minister. This comes amid worsening power and fuel shortages, which have left many in the suburbs without electricity for up to eight hours a day. Earlier this week, Zimbabwe's state power utility imposed the worst blackouts in nearly three years, due to low water levels at its Kariba Dam power plant. CGTN's Farai Mwakutuya reports.

These workers are racing against time to deliver their orders before the next power cut. Until recently this packaging plant operated around the clock, but lengthy blackouts have wrecked the schedule.

ALICE MAZHERO MANAGING DIRECTOR, BEAMS AND RAYS "Our normal production hours are 186 a week and we have had to cut down to 120 which means we are losing about one and half days, worth of production in a week. The lifestyle for our staff has been disrupted and we are incurring costs of transporting them at home midnight because unfortunately, the load shedding is happening during productive hours which means they have to work during the night so that we can accommodate the load shedding schedules."

That will push up production costs and strain margins in a price sensitive market. The renewed electricity woes come on the back of a poor rainfall season which has lowered Kariba Dam levels where power generation has had to be halved.

FARAI MWAKUTUYA HARARE, ZIMBABWE "Coal-fired power plants are aged and there is no other viable alternative source to bridge a deficit of about 1000 megawatts per day. That means Zimbabwe will look to increase imports from neighbouring countries."

A severe shortage of foreign currency may throw spanners in that plan unless tariffs that have been rendered sub-economic by a soaring forex rates are raised.

SIFELANI JABANGWE, PRESIDENT CONFEDERATION OF ZIMBABWE INDUSTRIES "In US dollars that tariff is now too low. There is a need to adjust that tariff so that the power utility is able to import power and distribute it at least at par if not for a margin. What is important is as they raise that tariff it must not be raised above a level which will help local companies to be competitive."

While an increase could restore productive capacity for hamstrung factories, it won't go down well with citizens already grappling with rising inflation and shortages of fuel, bread and other commodities. FM, CGTN.