Zimbabwe's electricity utility owes Mozambique's hydro-electric power company Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) at least $50-million, according to media reports on Sunday.

Mozambique's national news agency AIM quoted Mozambican Energy minister Salvador Namburete as saying that while its neighbour was failing to pay its bill, there were no immediate plans to switch power off, as the supply constituted Mozambique's helping its neighbour recover from its economic crisis.

"The Zimbabwean inclusive government needs our help at the level of the Southern African Development Community in order to recover from its economic crisis, and later it can pay its credits."

This was not the first time that Zimbabwe Electrical Supply Authority (ZESA) failed to pay for power from Cahora Bassa. Last year Mozambique pulled the plug for 10 days to force ZESA pay an accumulated debt of $10-million.

Namburete told the Maputo-based news agency that in April, Zimbabwe's minister of energy visited Maputo to negotiate for more time to pay until the country was "organised".

"Naturally this is a political agreement, but the parties to the agreement, HCB and ZESA need to sit down and set out specific dates for the repayment of the credit," said Namburete.

The Cahora Bassa dam's hydro-electric project on the Zambezi River supplies Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Malawi.

Sapa

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