NamPower sent out a misleading e-mail to Regional Electricity Distributors (REDs) and municipalities late on Wednesday.

"Attached, please find the NamPower load-shedding schedule for Thursday, 24 January 2008.

As from tomorrow (Thursday), the schedules will also be available on NamPower's Web page.

Please note: All load shed schedules for tomorrow are (0)."

"There is no power cut," Tangeni Kambangula, Communications Officer at NamPower, said when contacted yesterday afternoon.

"The e-mail was misinterpreted."

The e-mail however spread like wildfire throughout Namibia and created panic among the business community.

Even the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI), with the best of intentions, passed on the e-mail to its members, adding a note that the first power cut in Windhoek would start last night at 19h00 and last until 20h00.

Several supermarkets yesterday put up notices at their entrance doors, alerting customers that they would close earlier because of the expected power cut.

NamPower was inundated with phone calls from the business sector yesterday about the first load-shedding exercise, or brownout, since Independence.

Anxious soccer fans worried that they would miss parts of the televised match between Guinea and Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations last night.

Namibia's Brave Warriors played against Ghana later, at 21h30.

Although NamPower promised to issue a notice to the media to clear up the matter, this had not happened by the time of going to press.

NamPower's load-shedding schedule can be found on the Web at www.nampower.com.na.

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