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# Zaka electrification project connects schools, clinic and business centre to power grid
- URL: https://www.africaandbeyond.org/zaka-electrification-project-connects-schools-clinic-and-business-centre-to-power-grid/
- Published: 2026-09-26T16:48:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-26T16:48:17.000Z
- Description: A government-led rural electrification project has been switched on at Mbuyamaswa in Zaka North, connecting public institutions and a business centre while officials urged residents to turn electricity access into local economic activity.
- Author: Africa & Beyond News Correspondent

A rural electrification project has been commissioned at Mbuyamaswa Business Centre in Zaka North, Masvingo Province, connecting two schools, a clinic, a business centre and a secondary school to electricity.

The switch-on ceremony was held on Friday, September 25, 2026, with Energy and Power Development Minister July Moyo presiding. The project was implemented through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), according to reporting by *The Herald*. (heraldonline.co.zw)

The newly connected facilities are Mbuyamaswa Primary School, Manokore Primary School, Mbuyamaswa Clinic and Business Centre, and Kwamutevhure Secondary School. The project places education, basic healthcare and commercial activity among the immediate beneficiaries of the electrification work. (heraldonline.co.zw)

## From connection to local use

At the ceremony, Moyo said electrifying remote rural areas would support education, health services and rural businesses. Those are government and official claims about the expected benefits; the available reporting does not provide independent measurements of changes in school performance, clinic services or household incomes following the connection. (heraldonline.co.zw)

Deputy Energy and Power Development Minister Yeukai Simbanegavi urged residents to use the new access for income-generating projects and warned against rural-to-urban migration. Her remarks frame the project not only as an infrastructure intervention, but also as a test of whether electricity can support businesses and services close to where people live. (heraldonline.co.zw)

Schools in the area also received computers donated by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority, according to the report. The equipment creates an additional potential use for the new electricity supply, although the report does not establish how the computers will be maintained, powered during outages or integrated into teaching. (heraldonline.co.zw)

## Part of a wider rural programme

Zimbabwe’s Rural Electrification Fund identifies schools, clinics, government offices, homesteads, farms, business centres and irrigation schemes as beneficiaries of its rural grid programme. Its official description says public institutions qualify for full capital subsidies, while other rural electrification projects receive partial capital support. (rea.co.zw)

The government has also set out a 2026 plan involving 149 grid and off-grid projects, with an expected 52,730 new electricity connections nationwide, according to the Ministry of Energy. The plan includes schools, rural health centres, public facilities, households and other institutions, but the available evidence does not specify whether the Mbuyamaswa project is counted within that figure. (moe.gov.zm)

What remains to be established is the number of households connected around Mbuyamaswa, the project’s cost, the reliability of supply and whether local businesses have begun operating or expanding as a result. Those indicators will determine whether the switch-on produces lasting economic and social gains beyond the formal commissioning ceremony.

**Africa & Beyond — News | Analysis | Perspective**