Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
A SENIOR official at the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company has been suspended following a power outage that plunged Parliament into darkness during President Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation Address on Tuesday.
Engineer Abel Gurupira, the managing director of ZETDC, was suspended by ZESA Holdings Chief Executive Officer Eng Cletus Nyachowe to pave way for a full investigation into the incident.
The suspension letter cites the SONA outage and a prior power failure before the Zanu PF Annual National People’s Conference in Mutare as the reason for the disciplinary action.
The suspension comes after a stern warning from the Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda, who vowed that anyone found responsible would face consequences.
“It is proper that we apologise to His Excellency the President and to the House on the electricity outage,” Adv Mudenda told legislators shortly after the address. “Those that would be found wanting will regret this day.”
The outage occurred while President Mnangagwa was outlining the Government’s legislative agenda, forcing him to complete his delivery under torchlight.
In a technical explanation, the Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda clarified that the building was running on a backup generator at the time, with the main ZESA supply 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,” Mr Chokuda said.
According to the suspension letter, Eng Gurupira is suspended on full pay and benefits and is barred from communicating with ZESA staff during the investigation.
A joint probe involving Parliament, the Ministry of Local Government, ZESA and other Government agencies is underway to determine the exact cause of the power failure and prevent a recurrence.
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