Zimbabwe’s new president has baggage
Ties with former regime, military raise questions
JOHANNESBURG — Zimbabwe’s incoming leader Emmerson Mnangagwa, widely known as the Crocodile, is seen as a smart, ruthless politician, and many question if he will be able to bring the change the country craves.
“We are witnessing the beginning of a new, unfolding democracy,” the 75-year-old announced Wednesday upon his return to the country, two weeks after his firing by longtime mentor Robert Mugabe led to the president’s downfall.
Despite the message of inclusion, Zimbabweans noted that Mnangagwa made his first public remarks outside ruling ZANU-PF party headquarters and, switching to the local Shona language, praised the party.
They ask whether Mnangagwa will be adequately independent from ZANU-PF to revive the battered economy and restore democracy with the backing of the opposition and others.
The ruling party has proven it protects its own. It assured Mugabe he would not be prosecuted if he stepped down, ZANUPF chief whip Lovemore Matuke told The Associated Press: “He is safe, his family is safe and his status as a hero of his country is assured.”
On Thursday, the opposition MDC-T party said it had not been invited to Mnangagwa’s inauguration Friday morning at a 60,000seat stadium. That’s after the MDC joined the efforts to remove Mugabe, seconding the motion in Parliament to impeach him.
Mnangagwa’s remarkable rise to power — from being sacked as vice president and fleeing the country to being named Zimbabwe’s next leader — was largely thanks to the military, which put Mugabe under house arrest, and ruling party lawmakers who introduced the impeachment proceedings.
It is widely expected that Mnangagwa will continue to rely on them.
“Can a crocodile change its scales? Everybody is asking that question. Certainly his first speech was a lost opportunity. He did not speak about the need for an inclusive government,” said Piers Pigou, southern Africa expert for the International Crisis Group. “He has a long past with ZANU-PF and the military and that past may stick to him like chewing gum on a shoe.”
Pigou said more will be known when Mnangagwa announces his new government and policies. “It will be difficult for him to escape his history,” he said. “But the door is open.”
Mnangagwa served for decades as Mugabe’s enforcer and among Zimbabwe’s population, he is more feared than popular.
Despite his past, “some people see redeeming features in Mnangagwa,” said Tichaona Zindoga, political editor of the state-run Herald newspaper. “He is seen as business-oriented, which may help him improve the economy.”
However, Zindoga added, “politically his ties to ZANU-PF cannot be wished away. And the events of the past two weeks mean that he is ingratiated to the military.”