By Victor Fanuel
HARARE — President Emmerson Mnangagwa delivered part of his State of the Nation Address (SONA) under torchlight on Tuesday after Parliament’s hired generator failed at the height of the event — a mishap now blamed on poor coordination and questionable planning.
The power outage struck midway through Mnangagwa’s speech at the new parliament building in Mt Hampden, forcing an aide to illuminate his notes with a torch as the 83-year-old leader soldiered on.
Power was restored several minutes later, but the moment has since cast a shadow over parliament’s handling of the high-profile event.
It has since emerged that officials deliberately sidelined the national power utility, ZESA, opting instead to run the ceremony on a hired generator — a decision intended to prevent a repeat of the 2024 blackout that disrupted the national budget presentation.
According to a letter dated October 21, 2025 from acting clerk of parliament Nomasonto Audrey Sunga to local government permanent secretary John Bhasera, parliament instructed that the event be powered primarily by a generator, with ZESA electricity on standby.
The correspondence also directed that the generator be “serviced, fully tested and confirmed fit for uninterrupted operation,” while ZESA engineers were to remain on site for rapid response.
Sources revealed that parliament switched off ZESA power at midday, allowing the generator to run the event.
But roughly two-and-a-half hours later, the system failed — and the automatic switch-over to ZESA did not activate due to a misconfigured breaker.
The fault had to be corrected manually, leaving the head of state to complete his address in semi-darkness.
Speaker of parliament Jacob Mudenda, visibly enraged, publicly apologised to Mnangagwa and MPs, hinting at possible sabotage.
“We shall go beyond what happened, trace the culprit and deal with them accordingly.
“Those found wanting will regret the day of their existence,” said Mudenda.
Government spokesperson Ndavaningi Mangwana sought to downplay the debacle, describing it as proof of Mnangagwa’s resilience.
Posting a photo of the torchlit moment, he wrote on X: “Determination personified. Even a power outage couldn’t stop a determined President from fulfilling his constitutional duty.”
The incident marks the second blackout to embarrass parliament in less than a year, reigniting debate over the reliability of government event planning and the country’s persistent power woes.
Zimbabwe continues to grapple with crippling electricity shortages, with many households enduring outages lasting over five hours daily.
While no evidence points to deliberate sabotage, critics say the decision to override ZESA in favour of a hired generator — only for it to fail — highlights deep institutional inefficiency and mistrust within state systems.
