A listening president

IN HIS inauguration speech, Emmerson Mnangagwa hit the right notes, pledging to be an effective listening president for all Zimbabweans. In other words, he has no favourites. An inauguration speech is not a detailed government programme. That comes in the presidential address opening each annual session of parliament. But an inauguration address sets the tone for an five-year administration.

Here Mnangagwa had the same themes he has been pressing since he assumed office nine months ago. His top priorities are economic development and very high levels of freedom for Zimbabweans.

There is, in his words, far more that unites us as Zimbabweans than divides us. Mnangagwa wants to see Zimbabwe wrenched out of the past into a prosperous future. The president wants Zimbabwe to be a 21st century middle income country and wants that by 2030. He stressed yet again that he wants to be a listening president. Presumably this means he wants to hear the ideas and know the problems of all Zimbabweans.

Obviously a president has to act, lead his government, co-ordinate efforts and ensure that his team is pulling in the right direction.

But action based on detailed knowledge of what people want and based on using the best ideas is more likely to be effective than some private idea.

We note that the president seems quite unworried about the potential divide between urban authorities, almost all controlled by MDC Alliance-dominated councils and rural authorities, almost all controlled by Zanu-PF-dominated councils.

He wants them all to serve their people properly. He repeated his call for all opposition political parties, especially those represented in parliament, to be part of the united thrust for development. Obviously this does not mean they have to just follow government programmes. They must express their own ideas and articulate the needs of the constituencies they represent. They are free to criticise the government, as all citizens are.

But what it does mean is that the president would like them to put Zimbabwe first, pressing on him their ideas, highlighting shortfalls – and not wandering around the planet trying to persuade others to harm their country.

We showed, as a lot of people from the president down have noted, that we can all act very well indeed in the just-ended election. We all need to learn from that single violent incident on August 1 in Harare, and now that the president is inaugurated, he has promised he will very soon appoint a commission of inquiry.

This is, incidentally, a practical example of what it means to be a listening president, one wanting to find out what happened and why, so it is a good portent that rhetoric is being put into action.

* THE HERALD: ZIMBABWE