Emmerson Mnanagwa / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
If you ever needed a symbolic reminder of the failures of socialism, look no further than Zimbabwe.
The southern African country, which has been ruled by a far-left dictatorship for some 45 years, was hit by a blackout as the president was delivering his State of the Union address.
As President Emmerson Mnangagwa was speaking, the parliament suddenly descended into darkness.
After authorities failed to get the power back on, Mnangagwa was forced to deliver the final 10 minutes of his address by torchlight.
It is staggering to think that the same man presiding over this dysfunction is now pushing to extend his rule by another two years, to 2030,” wrote the popular dissident journalist Hopewell Chin’ono.
”How can a government that cannot provide electricity even for its own President’s national address claim the capacity to lead Zimbabwe into the future?”
Watch the clip below:
This is not a scene from a Hollywood film. It actually happened today in Zimbabwe’s Parliament. The President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, delivered the last ten minutes of his State of the Nation Address in total darkness after a power outage plunged the chamber into… pic.twitter.com/LyV8SzpRhq
— Hopewell Chin’ono (@daddyhope) October 28, 2025
Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda vowed to find the supposed culprits of the outage.
“We shall go beyond what happened, trace the culprit, and deal with them accordingly,” he warned. “Those found wanting will regret the day of their existence.”
Meanwhile, a visibly angry looking Mnangagwa skipped out on any pleasantries and departed the chamber immediately after he had finished.
To make matters worse, power was restored shortly after he had finished.
It is not the first time that blackouts have emabrassed the Zimbabwean government, after a similar outrage affected the national budget presentation last year.
Blackout disrupts Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, during his presentation of the 2025 national budget proposal. President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who were present, sat in the darkness with MPs pic.twitter.com/69oXsMZkYO
— The Eastleigh Voice (@Eastleighvoice) November 29, 2024
Since Robert Mugabe took power in 1980, Zimbabwe has become a cautionary tale of socialist mismanagement.
Once the breadbasket of Africa under British colonial rule, the country’s economy was devastated by land seizures, hyperinflation and rampant corruption.
Productive farms were handed to political loyalists, crippling agriculture and driving widespread hunger..
Infrastructure continues to decay, power cuts are frequent, and millions live in poverty.
Just like other leftist regimes, the government routinely blames “Western sanctions” for problems rooted in its own economic model and decades of state control.
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