Power cuts blacked out much of President Robert Mugabe’s state of the nation address on Tuesday, during which he promised to address Zimbabwe’s chronic electricity shortages. Central Harare was hit by widespread power failures minutes before state-run radio and television were due to broadcast Mr Mugabe’s speech live from parliament. The television station ran cartoons until power was restored about half an hour into the speech, which usually lasts an hour. Mr Mugabe promised to reinvigorate a programme aimed at identifying new energy sources, including extracting oil from coal deposits and the biological production of fuels. Zimbabwe currently imports more than 30% of its electricity from neighbouring countries, mainly South Africa. Disruption of power and water supplies have become routine in Zimbabwe, which is caught in its worst economic crisis since it gained independence from Britain in 1980. The often violent seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to black Zimbabweans, combined with four years of drought, have crippled the agriculture-based economy. Inflation has soared to 411% and unemployment is about 80%.