17 December 2005

Oh the delicious irony!

It's been a long time since I posted anything about Zimbabwe or its "President", Robert Mugabe. It's not that I've lost interest, nor that Mugabe's atrocities or injustices have miraculously ceased. I just haven't had anything in particular to say about the situation there for a couple of months. But the silence has lasted long enough, and it's time to report a delicious irony which came to my attention today.

Last week, Robert Mugabe gave a 'State of the Nation' address, in which he pledged to address the ongoing problem of electricity shortages in Zimbabwe. His speech was televised live, except nobody watching on TV heard Mugabe make the electricity pledge - because, umm, there was a power outage.

The Guardian reports:

Power cuts yesterday blacked out much of President Robert Mugabe's state of the nation address, during which he promised to address Zimbabwe's chronic electricity shortages.

Central Harare was hit by widespread power failures minutes before state-run radio and television were due to broadcast Mr Mugabe's speech live from parliament. The television station ran cartoons until power was restored about half an hour into the speech, which usually lasts an hour.
...

Disruption of power and water supplies have become routine in Zimbabwe, which is caught in its worst economic crisis since it gained independence from Britain in 1980.


How glorious is that?! Someone call Alanis Morrisette and tell her that that is what irony is.