Stir The Pot

LAST week Zimbabwe was in a sort of frenzy politically. Political activists and the embattled President Emmerson Mnangagwa government were all concerned about the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s special envoys that were coming to hear and find more on the country’s problems.

Political activists and opposition attributed Ramaphosa’s dispatching of envoys to Zimbabwe on “alleged” success of an online campaign# Zimbabwe an Lives Matter.

The campaign had received endorsements from South African opposition parties, artistes, sportspersons and activists. Western embassies too endorsed the hashtag.

Mnangagwa’s government has been struggling to deliver on social services as well as correcting former President Robert Mugabe’s economic mess. The new dispensation has spectacularly failed after all the goodwill it received despite assuming power via a military coup in November 2017.

The Mnangagwa administration has gone on overdrive to consolidate power, crush dissent and upped the levels of public sector corruption. These issues are a recipe for disaster and the opposition and activists always smell an opportunity to push for change.

Ramaphosa’s intervention, like former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki in 2007, is meant to avert a contagious political disaster in the region. Zimbabwe has a central place in Sadc, both economically and politically. Any serious political or economic implosion portends danger to the region.