The power cut plunged Zimbabwe’s parliament into darkness as Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube was wrapping up his budget speech.
The lights flickered and then went out, leaving top officials such as President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and members of parliament sitting in darkness.
The blackouts are a symptom of Zimbabwe’s ongoing crisis, with power outages lasting 12 hours a day due to a prolonged drought that has crippled energy production at the Kariba Dam, the land’s main source of electricity. water.
As the lights went out, opposition lawmakers shouted that the blackout was an apt metaphor for the country’s situation.
George Manyaya, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) told the local news site ZimLive that the outage was not planned.
He said parliament has its own power supply and is exempt from power cuts.
He said the power outage was caused by a lightning strike.
Before the lights went out, Ncube said the agricultural sector would contract by 15% this year because of the drought.
However, he predicts the economy will grow 6% next year due to forecasts of above-average rainfall – which should also help improve electricity supplies.
