News / National
Mnangagwa's delicate balancing act
01 Dec 2017 at 12:28hrs | Views
For many Zimbabweans, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's cabinet choices are a great betrayal of their trust.
They felt his presidency was on a new trajectory but his ministers do not necessarily inspire confidence. They argue that it's a mere act of recycling deadwood.
The disappointment is understandable, but it's fair to note that this was never going to be easy for the new president.
He has to perform a balancing act between his Zanu-PF party and state interests – and remember the role of the army in recent events.
Mr Mnangagwa has no direct mandate from the people of Zimbabwe, but owes his path to power to Zanu-PF and to a larger extent the army.
He has to manage those competing interests until elections next year.
More broadly speaking, what is important is not the identity of the new ministers. What matters is what they will do in the job.
Under former President Robert Mugabe they all worked to please him and achieve his goal of retaining power at all costs. He never gave them space to work.
Mr Mnangagwa has eight months until the election to prove that these ministers can push in a new direction and come up with the new ideas the country so desperately needs.
They felt his presidency was on a new trajectory but his ministers do not necessarily inspire confidence. They argue that it's a mere act of recycling deadwood.
The disappointment is understandable, but it's fair to note that this was never going to be easy for the new president.
He has to perform a balancing act between his Zanu-PF party and state interests – and remember the role of the army in recent events.
He has to manage those competing interests until elections next year.
More broadly speaking, what is important is not the identity of the new ministers. What matters is what they will do in the job.
Under former President Robert Mugabe they all worked to please him and achieve his goal of retaining power at all costs. He never gave them space to work.
Mr Mnangagwa has eight months until the election to prove that these ministers can push in a new direction and come up with the new ideas the country so desperately needs.
Source - BBC
