President Emmerson Mnangagwa was on Tuesday forced to complete his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in darkness after a sudden power outage plunged the New Parliament Building into confusion.
The blackout, which lasted several minutes, interrupted proceedings midway through the President’s address prompting whispers of disbelief across the National Assembly.
Despite the commotion, Mnangagwa remained composed continuing to read his prepared speech by torchlight for nearly ten minutes a move that drew applause from ZANU PF lawmakers impressed by his composure.
Power was restored shortly after the President concluded his remarks with Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda advising the House that an apology be extended to the President.
“I think it is proper that we apologize to His Excellency the President and the House for the electricity outages. Matters had been arranged that there would be an automatic switch-over. Once there was a problem either with ZESA or our generator,” said Mudenda.
He added that Parliament would conduct a full investigation into the cause of the outage warning that anyone found responsible would face serious consequences.
“It is important to note that we shall go beyond what happened and trace the culprits and deal with them accordingly. Those that will be found wanting will regret the day of their existence,” Mudenda said firmly.
It remains unclear whether the power cut was the result of load-shedding or a technical fault but the incident has raised fresh questions about the reliability of infrastructure at the Chinese-built New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden.
In November last year, Parliament suffered a power cut during the Budget presentation attended by the President with ZESA saying the blackout had happened because of a lightning strike.
Ozzie Green / October 29, 2025
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