Power outage forces Zimbabwe’s President to deliver speech under flashlight

A power outage briefly interrupted President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation Address in Zimbabwe’s Parliament on Tuesday, forcing him to continue his speech under flashlight. The incident occurred on October 28, 2025, during the final minutes of the address. After the parliamentary chamber was plunged into darkness, one of the President’s bodyguards illuminated his notes with a flashlight, allowing him to continue. Local media reported that electricity briefly went off and later returned, prompting concern among Mnangagwa’s security detail. They reportedly considered evacuating him,

A power outage briefly interrupted President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation Address in Zimbabwe’s Parliament on Tuesday, forcing him to continue his speech under flashlight. The incident occurred on October 28, 2025, during the final minutes of the address. After the parliamentary chamber was plunged into darkness, one of the President’s bodyguards illuminated his notes with a flashlight, allowing him to continue. Local media reported that electricity briefly went off and later returned, prompting concern among Mnangagwa’s security detail. They reportedly considered evacuating him, but the President chose to complete his remarks. Footage circulating on social media shows Mnangagwa reading his speech under flashlight while Members of Parliament and government officials sat in darkness. Witnesses said the President appeared visibly displeased as he left the chamber. Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda condemned those who laughed or made noise during the blackout, describing their behaviour as disrespectful. “Whoever cut off the electricity while the President was speaking will regret the day they were born,” Mudenda said. He later apologised to President Mnangagwa and pledged an immediate investigation into the incident. The power failure has raised questions about Parliament’s preparedness and the absence of a reliable backup power system during high-profile national events. According to reports by NewsZimbabwe and iHarare, a parliamentary official had written on 21 October 2025 requesting that a generator be inspected, tested, and adequately fuelled ahead of the President’s address. This was not the first such incident in Zimbabwe’s Parliament. In November 2024, a similar outage occurred while the Finance Minister was presenting the national budget.