Zimbabwe’s power sector has entered a new phase of restructuring, with the appointment of a veteran ZESA engineer and a former Eskom executive to lead the newly consolidated Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Private) Limited.
Engineer Cletus Nyachowe has been confirmed as Group Chief Executive Officer, with effect from 1 May 2026. Engineer Jan Albert Oberholzer has been appointed Chief Operating Officer. The appointments follow the restructuring of the ZESA Group into a single, vertically integrated electricity utility operating under ZESA (Private) Limited.
Eng Nyachowe joined ZESA in 1988 and has built a long career within the organisation, rising through senior technical and management roles. He previously served as Executive Director for Group Operations at ZESA Holdings, where he coordinated operations across the group’s businesses, and as Executive Director for International Business. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Zimbabwe, and is a Registered Professional Engineer and Fellow of the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers. He has also provided consultancy services on transmission infrastructure and renewable energy projects across the Southern African Development Community region. Before his confirmation as Group Chief Executive Officer, he served in an acting capacity following the restructuring process.
Eng Oberholzer brings extensive international power-sector experience to the new role. He served as Chief Operating Officer at South Africa’s Eskom between 2018 and July 2023, a period during which the utility grappled with severe load-shedding. He has since chaired Mulilo Energy, an independent power producer that has secured significant battery-storage contracts with Eskom.
The restructuring consolidates ZESA Holdings, the Zimbabwe Power Company and the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company into a single operating entity. Functions that previously sat within separate subsidiaries, including generation, transmission, distribution, system planning and commercial services, now fall under ZESA (Private) Limited as divisions rather than standalone companies.
The changes were formalised under General Notice 1193 of 2026, with ZESA now operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mutapa Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund appointed as shareholder. A new eleven-member board has also been confirmed, chaired by Mr Albert Joel Nduna, with Ms Ntokozo Mkandla serving as Deputy Chairperson. The remaining board members are Mr Tawanda Ernest Denhere, Ms Matilda Nyathi, Mr Sugar Chagonda, Mr Cassius Gambinga, Ms Theresa Muchinguri, Eng Nomusa Jowah and Ms Nyasha Hazel Muvirimi.
In a public notice announcing the board’s appointment, the Group Legal Advisor and Corporate Secretary, Mr Tungamirai Chinhengo, said the changes usher in a new chapter in the governance and strategic direction of ZESA as a vertically integrated national utility. He said the board would work to advance government’s goals of total electrification and universal access to electricity by 2030.
The restructuring marks a significant step in ongoing efforts to strengthen the reliability and financial sustainability of Zimbabwe’s power supply. With a unified command structure and combined technical leadership drawn from both local and international experience, ZESA is positioning itself to accelerate generation capacity expansion and reduce load-shedding, supporting the country’s broader ambitions for upper-middle-income status by 2030.