What was meant to be a polished festive showcase for City of Harare’s Christmas lights switch-on turned into an unscripted and widely shared moment on social media platforms after Mayor Jacob Mafume’s vintage ceremonial car broke down en route to the event.
In the hours leading up to the ceremony, the City of Harare had actively promoted the occasion on its official Facebook page, sharing upbeat posts and photographs of city officials posing with the mayor’s vintage Rolls-Royce.
In one post, the city declared: “We are ready…”, adding that the Corporate Communications team, which organised the event, was confident the 2025 switch-on would be “one of the best ever”.
Residents were invited to gather at Africa Unity Square at 5 pm for the main event.
Earlier, the city had also posted that Mafume’s driver, Blessing Rutumhu, had conducted “final checks” on the vintage Rolls-Royce, which was to lead a procession from Town House in the Harare CBD, starting at 4.30 pm.
However, the carefully choreographed plans did not unfold as expected.
While on its way to the venue, the vintage car developed mechanical problems and was forced to stop. The procession stalled, and the moment quickly drew attention from bystanders. Soon after, pictures and videos began circulating on social media showing city officials and staff surrounding the vehicle in an effort to get it moving again.
In some of the images that later went viral, staff members can be seen pouring water into the engine area in an apparent attempt to cool the overheating car, as the situation became increasingly urgent with the ceremony time approaching.
Despite the frantic efforts, the vintage Rolls-Royce could not be revived.
With the event still scheduled to proceed, Mafume left the broken-down vehicle behind and walked to Africa Unity Square. Videos shared online show the mayor proceeding on foot, calm and composed, occasionally smiling as members of the public filmed the unexpected scene.
The Christmas lights were eventually switched on as planned, officially marking the start of the festive season in Zimbabwe’s capital, also known as Sunshine City. But online, the spotlight quickly shifted from the lights themselves to the irony of the day’s events.
By Wednesday, social media platforms were flooded with posts juxtaposing the city’s confident pre-event messages — complete with officials posing beside the vintage car — against images of staff desperately trying to keep it running on the roadside. For many users, that contrast became the heart of the story.
While some Zimbabweans treated the incident as a light-hearted festive mishap, others used it satirically to comment on planning, optics and broader service delivery challenges in Harare, a city bedeviled by chronic service delivery failures characterised by endless water and electricity cuts.
What was intended as a smooth ceremonial procession instead became one of those unplanned civic moments that briefly captured public attention — not through spectacle alone, but through the gap between preparation and reality, as Harare ushered in the Christmas season.
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