Opinion / Columnist
Mnangagwa can only be a disappointment
29 Jan 2018 at 07:22hrs | Views
President Mnangagwa got a good hearing at the annual 'movers and shakers' jamboree at Davos in the Swiss Alps. People were curious to see whether he was another boring lunatic like his mentor Mugabe. They were quite reassured.
Absent was the pseudo-Marxist ranting about colonial oppression and capitalist looting - always rather ironic given that the Great Man was adept at oppression and looting himself without any foreign assistance. (Just the help of the same type of tarted-up chancers who always appear at Davos.)
But the truth is that Mnangagwa can only be a disappointment. He promises miracles but the crucial things he can't deliver. His problems were exposed in an interview with the BBC in Davos in which he was questioned about Gukurahundi. He made it clear that Zanu-PF would not apologise or allow a real truth and reconciliation process as took place in South Africa. Of course, the circumstances there were different: the Whites in South Africa were out of power when they confessed their crimes in return for an amnesty. In Zimbabwe the perpetrators are still clinging to power and want to stay in control..
Zanu-PF's looting is another problem. A stream of virtue signals from Mnangagwa - top people must declare their assets etc - seem designed to reassure the until-now despised West. But he will not convince Zimbabweans that corruption has been dealt with while current cabinet members are contaminated by ill-gotten gains.
And then there is the question of Mugabe himself. Mnangagwa says he has not been given immunity from prosecution but what will he do about the flood of court cases which will engulf the Mugabe family? A private school is seeking to recover land in Borrowdale seized by Grace. According to reports Mugabe himself turned up to chase off the police.. Another court case against the family has been launched to recover a farm in Mazowe stolen by the Mugabes.
Is the country's patron saint to be hounded in the courts until he dies? He is the god of Zanu-PF not of Zimbabweans as a whole and, if Zimbabwe is to emerge as a new and free country, he will have to be disowned and dispatched into exile - perhaps to one of the African countries described so colourfully by President Trump.
Absent was the pseudo-Marxist ranting about colonial oppression and capitalist looting - always rather ironic given that the Great Man was adept at oppression and looting himself without any foreign assistance. (Just the help of the same type of tarted-up chancers who always appear at Davos.)
But the truth is that Mnangagwa can only be a disappointment. He promises miracles but the crucial things he can't deliver. His problems were exposed in an interview with the BBC in Davos in which he was questioned about Gukurahundi. He made it clear that Zanu-PF would not apologise or allow a real truth and reconciliation process as took place in South Africa. Of course, the circumstances there were different: the Whites in South Africa were out of power when they confessed their crimes in return for an amnesty. In Zimbabwe the perpetrators are still clinging to power and want to stay in control..
Zanu-PF's looting is another problem. A stream of virtue signals from Mnangagwa - top people must declare their assets etc - seem designed to reassure the until-now despised West. But he will not convince Zimbabweans that corruption has been dealt with while current cabinet members are contaminated by ill-gotten gains.
And then there is the question of Mugabe himself. Mnangagwa says he has not been given immunity from prosecution but what will he do about the flood of court cases which will engulf the Mugabe family? A private school is seeking to recover land in Borrowdale seized by Grace. According to reports Mugabe himself turned up to chase off the police.. Another court case against the family has been launched to recover a farm in Mazowe stolen by the Mugabes.
Is the country's patron saint to be hounded in the courts until he dies? He is the god of Zanu-PF not of Zimbabweans as a whole and, if Zimbabwe is to emerge as a new and free country, he will have to be disowned and dispatched into exile - perhaps to one of the African countries described so colourfully by President Trump.
Source - ZimVigil
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