HARARE – Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is a former guerrilla fighter and bodyguard who replied to being fired as vp by means of unseating Robert Mugabe, his personal mentor and one of the vital international’s longest-ruling leaders, in a coup.
Mnangagwa is now seeking reelection for a 2d time period as president in a vote this week that might see the ruling ZANU-PF celebration lengthen its 43-year grasp on energy within the southern African country suffering below international sanctions. Zimbabwe has been ruled by means of ZANU-PF ever because it gained independence from white minority rule in 1980.
Mnangagwa’s nickname — “the crocodile” — suits smartly for a guy praised by means of supporters for his political crafty and criticized by means of others for a ruthless streak.
Mnangagwa changed the autocratic Mugabe as president after a military-led coup in 2017, gained a disputed election in 2018, and has grow to be Zimbabwe’s new strongman in the similar Mugabe mildew, critics say. It’s in spite of guarantees he made from freedom and democracy for the rustic’s 15 million other people when he changed a guy he supported – and as soon as secure as a bodyguard.
Mugabe had led Zimbabwe for 37 years and gave the impression immovable.
Under the charter, this will have to be the 80-year-old Mnangagwa’s closing time period if he wins this election. However, portions of his celebration have stated the legislation will have to be modified again to how it used to be all over a lot of Mugabe’s time to permit Mnangagwa to stick on as president.
“We want him to rule for life,” Mnangagwa supporter Rosedale Ndlovu stated.
Mnangagwa has no longer rejected the speculation, telling a Christian workforce just lately: “If you want to rule the country forever, you come to church and be prayed for.”
At stake is the route of a country with wealthy agricultural and mineral doable however which has been refrained from by means of the West for greater than twenty years as a result of human rights abuses, and has increasingly more grew to become to China and Russia amid its long-running financial issues.
Zimbabwe has Africa’s biggest deposits of the extremely sought-after battery mineral lithium to draw renewed interest from China.
While Mnangagwa promised a smash from the repressive and isolationist technology below Mugabe, there is been little signal of trade.
The crackdown on political opposition below Mugabe — who died in 2019 in Singapore — has continued below Mnangagwa, global rights teams Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say, relating to it as “brutal.”
U.S. and European sanctions on Zimbabwe stay in position.
Some say it is not unexpected that little has modified bearing in mind how Mnangagwa rose to energy below Mugabe, first as his bodyguard all over the bloody independence battle within the Nineteen Seventies, then as a Cabinet minister within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties, and in spite of everything as vp earlier than they changed into political enemies and he used to be fired by means of Mugabe.
Before they fell out, Mnangagwa used to be known as Mugabe’s enforcer.
As president, Mnangagwa has been “skillful in deploying a delicate balance” in proceeding Mugabe’s way in some spaces, however no longer all, stated Zimbabwe political analyst Alexander Rusero.
While Mugabe used to be glad to brazenly oppress any opposition and rant on the West, Mnangagwa has hired a a lot smoother PR way.
Asked about his crocodile nickname, Mnangagwa has described himself as being “as soft as wool.” He ceaselessly intersperses his speeches with chants of “hallelujah” in a strongly Christian nation. During the election marketing campaign, he told supporters they’d move to heaven in the event that they voted for his celebration. He has stated that Zimbabwe is now “a mature democracy” below him.
He virtually all the time seems in public dressed in a shawl within the colours of the Zimbabwean flag, framing himself as the savior of the rustic.
“We are improving the standard and quality of life for the people of Zimbabwe, brick upon brick, stone upon stone,” Mnangagwa said at an election rally attended by thousands of supporters. “Step by step, we are building Zimbabwe into a modern, industrialized and prosperous country.”
Mnangagwa can claim some success in reviving parts of the agricultural sector, there has been a mining boom, and infrastructure is being built. But the economy is still deeply troubled and a pre-election survey by leading African pollster Afrobarometer said about two thirds of Zimbabweans think the country is going in the wrong direction.
The Citizens Coalition for Change — the main opposition party that will challenge ZANU-PF and Mnangagwa in the election on Wednesday — says its supporters have been subjected to violence and intimidation by ruling party followers, have been arrested and harassed by police, and have had their rallies banned and broken up. Mnangagwa denies his party is oppressive.
Political analyst Rusero said another Mnangagwa election victory would likely lead to a “repetition of Mugabe’s legacy.”
“One factor they in large part percentage is no longer leaving the rest to probability as a lot as energy consolidation is involved,” Rusero stated.
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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa