Parliament Apologises After Power Outage Disrupts Mnangagwa’s SONA

The Parliament of Zimbabwe has issued an apology to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the nation after a power outage disrupted the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Tuesday, 28 October.

In a statement, Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Mugove Chokuda said the blackout occurred while the Parliament building was relying on a generator as the main power source, with ZESA electricity on standby. He added:

“When supplies were lost, the generator was still running, but not supplying power. Preliminary investigations indicate that a circuit breaker supplying the load had tripped.

“The restoration took longer than expected, resulting in part of the SONA being delivered without power supply.”

Chokuda said that Parliament, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, ZESA, and other government agencies are investigating the incident and will report to the nation on what happened, while implementing measures to prevent a recurrence.

Related:

Nationwide Power Cut Hits Zimbabwe, ZESA Rushes To Restore Grid