Innocent Sibonginkosi Ncube | Zim GBC News
The Managing Director of the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), Engineer Abel Gurupira, has been fired with immediate effect following a major power outage that plunged Parliament into darkness during President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Tuesday.
The incident, which occurred while the President was delivering his key national speech, has sparked widespread outrage and become a potent symbol of the country’s ongoing power infrastructure crisis.
According to a source within the Energy Ministry who spoke to journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, the Minister of Energy, Honourable July Moyo, personally instructed the Group Chief Executive Officer of ZESA Holdings, Cletus Nyachowe, to remove Gurupira from his post.
An internal investigation into the power failure has reportedly been instituted.
The directive came swiftly after the nationally-televised blackout, which forced President Mnangagwa to continue his address under the light of mobile phone torches, a moment critics have seized upon as a metaphor for the nation’s struggles.
In a press statement issued later on Tuesday, the Parliament of Zimbabwe offered “sincere apologies” to the President and the nation for the incident.
The Clerk of Parliament, Mr. K.M. Chokuda, explained that the Parliament building was running on a generator as the main power source at the time, with the ZESA grid on 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. The restoration took longer than expected, resulting in part of the SONA being delivered without power supply,” the statement read.
The statement further confirmed that Parliament, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, ZESA, and other government agencies are conducting a full investigation and will implement measures to prevent a recurrence.
The sacking of a senior official underscores the political sensitivity of the event and the government’s urgent attempt to control the narrative around an incident that has captured national attention and ridicule.
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