Zimbabwe president charts his own path
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s new president is showing signs of charting a path different from that of his ousted mentor, Robert Mugabe, as he tries to win over the country before next year’s elections.
On Friday, the ruling ZANU-PF party is expected to endorse President Emmerson Mnangagwa as party leader and its presidential candidate. The elections are a key test of his promises to strengthen Zimbabwe’s democracy and attract badly needed foreign investment to revive a devastated economy.
The party congress also will endorse the recall of 93-year-old Mugabe from the party and government, said spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo, completing last month’s dramatic events that saw the military put Mugabe under house arrest, scores of thousands rally in the streets and lawmakers begin impeachment proceedings before the longtime leader resigned.
Mnangagwa at his inauguration described Mugabe as a “father, comrade-in-arms and my leader” but called his swearing-in the day “Zimbabwe renews itself.”
Zimbabweans and others are watching closely to see whether Mnangagwa, a longtime Mugabe ally whose firing as vice-president led the country to turn against the president after 37 years in power, can step out of his mentor’s shadow. So far he has made some bold moves, despite stocking the new Cabinet with military and ruling party members and shutting out the opposition.
On Thursday, Mnangagwa called for the “unconditional lifting” of sanctions that he said have crippled the economy. He also said he has a list of people who illegally moved money outside the country and will publicly shame them if the money isn’t returned by March.
A new budget plan by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa proposes to reduce diplomatic missions and ban first-class travel for everyone but the president as the government tries to cut costs and repair the once-prosperous economy.
Zimbabwe’s police, known for setting up numerous roadblocks and demanding bribes, have been removed from the streets and told to reform, while Cabinet ministers who rarely attended parliamentary question-and-answer sessions seem to have changed their ways.