‘New’ Zimbabwe deserves a hearing

Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man who ousted Robert Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe after 37 years, travels to Davos this week to tell the global elite that his country is “open for business”. Deeply compromised as he is by years as one of Mugabe’s chief lieutenants, he deserves a hearing — but also a clear message that he will be judged by his actions, not his words.

Mnangagwa’s very appearance at Davos is a sign of change. Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe became a pariah state. It broke with the International Monetary Fund in 2001 after mounting a shambolic and violent campaign to seize white people’s land. It has been in arrears ever since, cutting itself off from international finance. Mugabe retreated into sulky isolationism. The currency was immolated on a bonfire of hyperinflation. Today, one of the most educated and entrepreneurial populations in Africa finds itself with almost no prospect of work. Many of Zimbabwe’s most talented are making a success of it in SA and further afield, forming a diaspora rich with experience and know-how.

There are reasons to believe that under Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe could draw a line under elements of this sorry tale. True, he spent 50 years by Mugabe’s side and was the ruthless enforcer of his leader’s authoritarianism. Mnangagwa’s early cabinet appointments including key military figures from November’s “noncoup” coup, do not bode well. He should be appointing competent technocrats. Still, Mnangagwa shows signs of being less of an ideologue than Mugabe. He is making the right noises about foreign investment, scrapping harmful “indigenisation” laws that were an excuse for state pillage, and opening up the political system. To get things done, he will need multilateral finance and an end to sanctions.

That makes crucial the international community’s response to the “new” Zimbabwe. Go too slow and Mnangagwa may hunker down into Zanu-PF’s old ways. Go too fast and he will assume he can get away with the mere rhetoric of change. London, January 21