Zimbabwe’s new era looks much like the old one
In Zimbabwe in recent weeks, the people may well have spoken, but what is it they said? And was anyone listening? Zimbabweans who had hoped for a new era of renewal and reconciliation after the long and tyrannical reign of former president Robert Mugabe must be profoundly disappointed with the cabinet lineup presented to the nation this week. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has done anything but put Zimbabwe on a course of national revival with his picks, for it is a who’s who of Zanu-PF lifers, generals and struggle veterans. There is little by way of fresh blood to infuse new ideas into a moribund political and economic situation. This is not a cabinet that suggests a new start; rather it appears to be more of the same, which should not be that surprising given that Mnangagwa learnt his trade in the employ of Mugabe.
Consider Mnangagwa’s choice as finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa. As a former finance minister, Chinamasa presided over an economy that stagnated, as exports plummeted and a shortage of dollars crippled the financial system, leading to long queues outside banks. Much of the malaise could be put down to an economic policy that saw as its main task the issuing of billions of dollars in debt to pay a bloated civil service.
As an apparent reward for the coup that put him in power, Mnangagwa has put senior military personnel in top positions: he made Major-General Sibusiso Moyo foreign minister and gave Air Marshal Perrance Shiri the sensitive land portfolio. Moyo was one of the generals who went on TV to announce the coup; Shiri is reviled by many as a former commander of the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade that played a central role in the 1983 massacres in Matabeleland in which an estimated 20 000 people were killed.
One positive sign in the country this week was the acquittal of an opposition activist, #ThisFlag protester Pastor Evan Mawarire, who faced charges of trying to violently overthrow Mugabe. His case was viewed as a test for judicial independence, and his acquittal could go some way towards restoring faith in the courts.
Let’s hope there will be other signs of renewal as Zimbabwe heads towards elections which, one hopes, will be free and fair and give our neighbour the chance to pick itself off the floor after the ruinous Mugabe years.