A power outage briefly plunged the new Parliament Building into darkness during President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Tuesday, forcing him to continue his speech under torchlight.Parliament has since confirmed that a tripped circuit breaker was responsible for the blackout, which lasted around ten minutes before power was restored.In an official statement, Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda explained that the incident occurred while the building was running on generator power, with ZESA electricity on standby.
“The loss of power supply to key systems occurred when the Parliament Building was running on a generator as the main source of supply, with ZESA as standby. 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,” said Chokuda.He added that restoration took longer than expected, resulting in part of the President’s address being delivered without electricity.This marks the second blackout at the new Parliament Building in less than a year.
The previous incident occurred during Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube’s 2025 National Budget Presentation in November last year, which ZESA attributed to “natural causes.” The recurrence has raised eyebrows, with Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda suggesting the possibility of sabotage.
“The culprit will regret the day of their existence,” Mudenda warned, hinting at disciplinary action once investigations conclude.Authorities have moved swiftly to address the issue, with Parliament working closely with ZESA, the Ministry of Local Government, and other government departments to establish the root cause.
Officials say the findings of the investigation will be made public, and measures will be introduced to ensure such incidents do not disrupt future national events.The new Parliament Building, a multimillion-dollar project symbolizing Zimbabwe’s legislative modernization, has now faced scrutiny over its power reliability—especially during high-profile national occasions.
