Nyachowe appointed ZESA Group CEO as utility completes restructuring

Engineer Cletus Nyachowe has been appointed Group Chief Executive Officer of ZESA (Private) Limited with effect from May 1, 2026.

Engineer Cletus Nyachowe has been appointed Group Chief Executive Officer of ZESA (Private) Limited, taking permanent charge of Zimbabwe’s restructured electricity utility with effect from May 1, 2026. The appointment was announced by ZESA board chairman Albert Joel Nduna, who said Nyachowe’s elevation followed the restructuring of the ZESA Group into a single, vertically integrated electricity utility.

The restructuring brings key electricity functions under ZESA (Private) Limited, including generation, transmission, distribution, system planning and commercial services. Cabinet approved the restructuring in August as part of efforts to improve operational efficiency, strengthen the utility’s financial position and support Zimbabwe’s drive towards energy self-sufficiency by 2030.

Nyachowe, an electrical engineer and experienced utility executive, joined ZESA in 1988 and has held several senior technical and executive positions during his career. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Zimbabwe. He is also a registered professional engineer and a Fellow of the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers.

Before taking over as substantive Group CEO, Nyachowe served as acting chief executive following the death of former ZESA executive chairman Sydney Gata in July 2025. His previous responsibilities included serving as managing director of Powertel Communications, where he was involved in developing the ZESA subsidiary's data-focused telecommunications business. He subsequently served as ZESA Holdings executive director for Group Operations and later as executive director responsible for international business.

His career has also included responsibility for the country's electricity transmission infrastructure and consultancy work in the Southern African Development Community on renewable energy and regional electricity-market development. Nduna said Nyachowe also brought extensive corporate governance experience from serving on boards across the banking, insurance, asset-management, higher-education and regulatory sectors.

The permanent appointment comes at a critical point for ZESA as government attempts to overhaul the structure of the power sector and improve reliability. In May, Nyachowe told Parliament's Public Accounts Committee that ZESA was targeting an additional 1 365 megawatts of generation capacity by the end of 2026 as part of efforts to eliminate load-shedding. He said 635MW was under construction, while a further 730MW was at the financial-closure stage.

ZESA has also said improved electricity generation, tighter cost controls and reduced load-shedding were contributing to an improvement in its financial position. In May, Nyachowe said the utility was on course to record a net profit for the 2025 financial year.

The government has said the new vertically integrated structure should reduce fragmentation and improve coordination in generation dispatch, outage management, maintenance planning, load forecasting and investment decisions. The restructuring also involves rationalising excess positions through retirement and retrenchment, with Cabinet saying the process would be funded from internally mobilised resources.

Nyachowe's appointment therefore places him at the centre of one of the country's most consequential public-sector reforms, with the utility under pressure to maintain improved power supplies while expanding generation and modernising its transmission and distribution networks.

“The Board, Management and Staff extend heartfelt congratulations to Eng. Nyachowe on his appointment and express full confidence in his leadership,” Nduna said.

He said Nyachowe would be responsible for driving the strategic and operational transformation of the newly integrated ZESA (Private) Limited.

Cletus Nyachowe ZESA CEO