DARKNESS IN PARLIAMENT IS A METAPHOR FOR ZIMBABWE UNDER ZANU PF

What happened yesterday inside Zimbabwe’s Parliament was not just a power outage. It was a moment of brutal symbolism that exposed the deep and dangerous failure of leadership in our country. As President Emmerson Mnangagwa stood before the nation to deliver his State of the Nation Address, the lights went out. Literally. The chamber was plunged into darkness. The leader of the country had to finish his speech under torchlight. And with that, the mask slipped off the entire regime.

In a country where electricity is already a rare luxury for millions of households, the one place that should never experience a blackout is Parliament during a presidential address. Yet under ZANU PF, even that is no longer guaranteed. It took less than a minute for the regime to descend into panic. Blame was thrown around like a hot coal. Within hours, Abel Gurupira, the Managing Director of the Zimbabwe Electricity and Distribution Company, was suspended with immediate effect. Not investigated first. Not called in to explain. Just suspended. It was a clear attempt to save face and protect the powerful from accountability.

Energy Minister July Moyo, in a desperate scramble to appease a visibly furious Mnangagwa and an indignant Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda, pushed for the removal of Gurupira through ZESA’s group CEO Cletus Nyachowe. An internal memo confirmed that investigations were still underway, yet punishment had already been meted out. So much for due process. So much for transparency.

Confusion reigns. Mudenda and other senior figures are already shouting sabotage. Others within Parliament say it was just a technical fault. This is not the first time such an embarrassing incident has occurred. Last year, Parliament also faced a power outage during an important event. But this time, the darkness was more than physical. It was political. It was moral. It was national. And it exposed how hollow and decaying the system has become.

To those of us who have lived under ZANU PF’s 45-year rule, this moment was a metaphor. The lights going off during a speech meant to show strength and stability was not a coincidence. It was a message. Not from activists. Not from foreign powers. But from reality itself. Zimbabwe is in the dark. The so-called leadership is groping around in confusion. Every step they take exposes their incompetence. Every response they give reveals their fear. And every excuse they offer shows that they have no answers left.

If the regime cannot keep lights on in its own Parliament, how can it be trusted to run hospitals, schools, or water treatment plants? How can it rebuild an economy shattered by corruption and looting? How can it protect ordinary citizens from hunger, poverty and violence? The answer is simple. It cannot. It has failed. And it continues to fail.

The symbolism of torchlight on the face of a president who has ruled through fear and manipulation was not lost on anyone watching. This is not a government in control. It is a government in crisis. This is not a strong leader. This is a man holding on to power by blaming others for the darkness he created.

Zimbabwe needs light. Real light. Not torchlight. Not temporary fixes. Not suspensions that mean nothing. We need truth. We need justice. We need a complete dismantling of this rotten system that continues to plunge us deeper into darkness with every passing year. The blackout in Parliament may have lasted minutes, but the blackout of our nation under ZANU PF has lasted decades. It is time to switch on the future and leave this darkness behind.