HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa delivered part of his State of the Nation Address (SONA) under torchlight on Tuesday after parliament officials chose to sideline the national power utility, ZESA, for a hired generator that later failed, ZimLive can reveal.
Mnangagwa was opening the third session of the eighth parliament at the new Mt Hampden building when the lights abruptly went out.
It has now emerged that parliament elected to power the event using a generator — a decision taken to avoid a repeat of last November’s embarrassing blackout during the national budget presentation.
According to parliamentary sources, ZESA supply was deliberately switched off at midday, with the generator taking over. The system failed shortly after 2.30PM as Mnangagwa neared the end of his speech.
An automatic switch-over to ZESA did not occur because engineers from the local government ministry had not correctly set the breaker, sources said. The problem was eventually corrected manually after more than five minutes.
As security aides scrambled, Mnangagwa appeared to decline advice from a security aide to stop his address, and possibly vacate the building.
With a flashlight in hand, an aide stood beside the 83-year-old leader, illuminating his speech as he read on. Power was restored moments after he concluded.
Mudenda apologised to the president and hinted at sabotage.
“It is proper that we apologise to His Excellency the President and the House for the electricity outage,” he told MPs.
“It had been arranged that there would be an automatic switch-over if there was either a problem with ZESA or the generator. We will 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.”
A letter obtained by ZimLive confirms that parliament had instructed the local government ministry to employ a generator for the event, with ZESA as a standby power supplier for the SONA.
“It is noted that there is an approved arrangement to run the event using the generator as the primary source of power with ZETDC power on standby following previous power disruptions,” acting clerk of parliament Nomasonto Audrey Sunga wrote to local government secretary John Bhasera on October 21.
Parliament directed that the generator be “serviced, fully tested and confirmed fit for uninterrupted operation,” with ZESA engineers required to be on site for immediate response.
Zimbabwe continues to face crippling power shortages, with many households and businesses enduring blackouts lasting more than five hours a day.
There was no suggestion that ZESA was responsible for Tuesday’s failure.
In the November 2024 incident, ZESA blamed “an act of nature” after thunderstorms and strong winds tripped a 132kv feeder line supplying Mt Hampden.
Government spokesman Ndavaningi Mangwana downplayed the latest mishap, calling it a testament to Mnangagwa’s resolve.
Posting a photo of the president reading under torchlight, Mangwana wrote on X: “DETERMINATION PERSONIFIED. Even a power outage couldn’t stop a determined President Mnangagwa from fulfilling his constitutional duty. A single torchlight in the dark parliament became a powerful symbol of his tenacity.”
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