Zimbabwe parliament plunged into darkness during budget speech
Zimbabwe’s Parliament was thrown into darkness during Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube’s 2025 National Budget presentation on Wednesday.
The blackout interrupted the speech, leaving top officials, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa, in the dark.
The power cut was caused by lightning strikes, according to the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA).
“This was not a planned outage,” ZESA spokesperson George Manyaya told local reporters.
Opposition MPs criticised the government for failing to solve the country’s energy crisis and for providing a grossly inadequate energy budget.
Zimbabwe has been facing daily power cuts lasting over 12 hours due to low water levels at Kariba Dam and breakdowns at Hwange power plants.
Many businesses and families are struggling to cope amidst calls for urgent action by the government.
