Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe's second coming


By Blessing Vava


THE toppling from power of the late former President Robert Mugabe by the army in November 2017 had signalled hope for many Zimbabweans, who saw his departure as an opportunity for a rebirth of a nation and a new politics after years of one-man rule characterised by an egoistic and opulent lifestyle and use of brute force to silence opponents.
Though I did not agree on the manner in which Mugabe was removed ‑ a military coup ‑ I was one of those millions of Zimbabweans who breathed fresh air seeing the tyrant’s back.
Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years with an iron fist. His personality cult had become bigger than the country itself and he called the shots. It was his way or no one else’s and during his reign, he nurtured a system ‑ Mugabeism ‑ a culture which has continued to haunt Zimbabweans even in his death.
However, since his departure, the remnants of his rule ‑ character ‑ seems to have morphed into his former personal assistant and successor, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
During his first days in office, Mnangagwa promised and assured Zimbabweans and the world at large that Zimbabwe was on the course of a new path, a new dispensation, a Second Republic.
In earnest, all that has proved otherwise. In fact, the old has remained, nothing has changed and Mnangagwa has proved to be a clone of his former boss. One would be left wondering if Mugabe is gone for real because in Mnangagwa, Mugabe seems to have resurrected and his “spirit” is now tormenting us.
In this short piece I will attempt to highlight some of the traits/actions that Mnangagwa has carried over from Mugabe, proving that he is not his own man but rather, he has copied everything from Mugabe.
Annual holiday
As had become the norm, Mugabe took the opportunity to go for a leave every year around December and in early January. Mugabe would normally take his family to the Far East on taxpayers money.
He cared less about the dire economic situation in the country’, whose impact could be felt, especially around the festive season and in January.
We had become accustomed to that and this was also an opportunity for Mugabe to go for his medical check-ups during this time and every year, the news would pilfer that he had died.
Like the current leadership, he despised local health facilities, opting for treatment abroad, where they are better facilities, with his administration having seen the dearth of local ones.
While at it, it is not common in other countries for presidents to go on leave for that long, worse in Zimbabwe’s case, a country facing a host of problems.
On this one, Mnangagwa has refused to let this habit go. In typical fashion, he has inherited it and has officially gone on leave, which runs until the end of January.
The difference between the two though is that Mnangagwa is in the country, not by choice though, but because he dreads being toppled through a coup should he leave the country, as some quarters have alleged.
Shockingly, Mnangagwa can afford to go on leave while the country is burning and a time Zimbabwe needs leadership to deal with the socio-economic and political crises.
However, the 77-year-old ruler seems not to care. He has a careless tongue which recklessly unleashes tasteless jokes about the hardships people are encountering every day, a clear reminder that the people of Zimbabwe are on their own.
Rallies
Mugabe was very fond of gatherings and took every opportunity to make sure that there was a rally, and would use such platforms to dress down opponents and at times pronounce government policy direction.
Even with the slightest of developments locally and internationally, his party was quick to organise rallies ‑ welcome back rallies at the airport, thank you rallies, interface rallies, you name it and all these became synonymous during Mugabe’s last days.
Unashamedly, a congratulatory rally was organised at the airport upon his return after he had assumed the rotational chairperson of the African Union.
Mnangagwa has unashamedly continued in the same path: thank you rallies to celebrate his 2018 electoral victory were held in some provinces.
On September 25, he organised what was dubbed the anti-sanctions rally, which was a call to the United States and the West to remove sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
And unlike Mugabe who had the numbers, Mnangagwa has found the ball tough in this game. Unlucky for him, he does not have the appeal and has no people. Maybe it’s his boring and choking tonation and intonation when addressing crowds which repels people.
Another interesting observation is his earlier stance on the sanctions issue a month after assuming office. A year later, Mnangagwa had resorted Mugabe’s anti-sanctions narrative. So much of similarities with Mugabe.
Human rights abuses /Police brutality
Mnangagwa’s short years in power have seen the worst in as far as police brutality, and human rights abuses are concerned. Mugabe’s 37-year rule was characterised by such: opposition supporters and any form of dissent were crushed using brute force and excesses by the security forces.
For Mugabe, it was rule-by-fear. Mnangagwa has been moving at a much faster rate than his predecessor. The unleashing of soldiers to quell post-election protests in August 2018 and anti-fuel price hike protests in January 2019 is testimony to how Mnangagwa has used Mugabe’s handbook very well. Many would remember Mugabe's boasting of violence and declarations that his party was above everything, Mnangagwa has continued with that trajectory: “We are the army, we are the air force, we are the police….. we determine who can do mining, we determine who can build a road. No other party can do so.”  While it can be argued that Mnangagwa has been a replica of Mugabe, there is no doubt that Mnangagwa has definitely surpassed Mugabe in many aspects, said Innocent Gonese, the chief whip of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Innocent Gonese, opines: ‘I know that Robert Mugabe was no good, ‘he was cruel and heartless and in spite of his array of degrees his appreciation of the laws of economics was zilch. I never thought that we could get someone worse than him.’ 
Suffice to say, as if it’s a ritual, Mnangagwa has continued with regular trips to his farm/rural home almost every Sunday, just as Mugabe did. The opulent lifestyle has continued as evidenced by the hiring of private planes for international trips, bloated delegations and, above all, politics of patronage which has seen Mnangagwa’s making key appointments of people from his Karanga tribe. Mugabe's key appointments were dominated by his Zezuru kinsmen. 

The patronage culture has escalated the levels of bootlicking President, something which characterised Mugabe’s reign. The more you praise the President, the more you get rewarded handsomely. From “vaMugabe muoffice” to “ED 2023, the more things change, the more they remain the same, nothing seems to change, we remain in a circle.

Blessing Vuvuzela Vava is a blogger based in Chipinge, Zimbabwe, he can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com

Chinese top envoy's visit to Africa: More than what meets the eye



By Blessing Vava
Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Mr Wang Yi pictured with Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Acting President General Constantino Chiwenga during his recent visit to Zimbabwe


The recent visit to Africa by the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Wang Yi, was a pregnant diplomatic statement and reaffirms China’s strong influence on the continent, politically and economically.

Although some pundits viewed the visit as a low-key event, different interpretations can, however, be presented to decipher the meaning of Minister Wang’s visit to Africa and Zimbabwe in particular.

Firstly, the visit is a routine for a Chinese foreign minister to visit Africa at the beginning of each year. However, this visit is significant in the geopolitical dynamics, where the West is also trying to exert its influence on the continent.

For decades, Western imperialism had set a permanent mark on the continent, particularly after the infamous 1884 meeting convened by the German Chancellor Otto Eduard Leopold, better known as Otto von Bismarck, the meeting which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period and marked the first Scramble for Africa.
Significantly, the Chinese minister flexed his muscles during his five-nation a tour that saw him visit Egypt, Djibouti, Eritrea, Burundi and Zimbabwe, meeting foreign affairs ministers, presidents and their deputies.
In Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa had to cut short his holiday to meet the Chinese diplomat. Thus then shows the influence China has on the continent.
Secondly, apart from China’s sending an indirect message to its foes, what we can then draw from the visit, the discussions that happened between the Chinese official and leaders of the countries visited and other of such initiatives like Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC), clearly shows the emergence of Chinese imperialism on the continent.
Unlike the Berlin 1884 initiative, the Chinese have been clever in their approach to exploiting Africa’s resources in the second Scramble for Africa.
The second Scramble for Africa’s raw materials has seen the West losing its economic influence to China due to the latter’s non-interference, mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual support.
Thirdly, for China, Africa has been used as an area in which to challenge the West and, in particular, America’s global hegemony. The emphasis by the Chinese of non-interference is a direct reference and mocking of the West, in particular, America, which is constantly accused of meddling in other countries’ internal affairs, something re-emphasised by Minister Wang during his visit openly challenging the West to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe. 


In the same vein, the comments made by Mr Zhao Baogang, the Chinese deputy ambassador to Zimbabwe, while commenting on the new Parliament being constructed by the Chinese in Mt Hampden seems to buttress my argument.
The Chinese deputy ambassador said that the new Parliament was important in the decolonisation of Zimbabwe, thus casting aspersions on the former colonial master Britain.

Thus, it was also not a coincident that United States ambassador Brian Nichols went to meet Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Constantine Chiwenga days just after Mr Wang’s visit.

Fourthly, on one hand, the selection of Zimbabwe was not a coincidence, mainly because China’s relationship with Zimbabwe has been one of the most visible in the last decade.
In the early 2000s, Zimbabwe announced a “Look-East” policy anchored on China, with ruling party politicians referring to China as an “all-weather friend”. In a way, Zimbabwe is unique in Africa in that it has more aggressively pursued an active and engaged relationship with China than other African states, hence the visit.
On the other hand, the visit to Zimbabwe by the top Chinese diplomat was an opportunity to show a face of unity following a diplomatic spate last year over a dispute on Chinese assistance to Zimbabwe as well as a four years ago when Zimbabwe kicked out all mining firms out of Chiadzwa.
First, in 2016, the relationship between Harare and Beijing took a dip after then President, the late Robert Mugabe’s government kicked out all miners from Chiadzwa diamond mines.
Then, affected Chinese firms included Anjin and Jinan, but the Zimbabwean government had to later bow to Chinese pressure and re-admit Anjin back into the mining fields.
Last year, the relationship again hit a low after Zimbabwe’s government said it had only received US$3,6 million in aid from Beijing in 2019 ‑ 40 times lower than the figure claimed by China.
Representatives of both countries tried to show a face of unity despite the spat and persistently re-emphasised the friendship between the two countries.
Speaking at the same occasion, Minister Wang said bilateral relations between China and Zimbabwe for the past 40 years had become “stronger and trustworthy”.
“We have become stronger friends and we have deeper trust in each other. We have become even more steadfast in our commitment to bilateral co-operation.”
Trust was lost and that’s the reason why China had to release a statement correcting the figures of the aid they had given to Zimbabwe.
While at it, I will however agree with some pundits who allude that while economics remains important in the China-Africa relationship, it’s just one part of a much broader political and military and technological agenda.

Lastly, there is absolutely no doubt that the Chinese are a bit annoyed by Mnangagwa’s inconsistencies in his foreign policy.
In my opinion, I think that the Chinese are disappointed by Mnangagwa’s dalliance with the Russians, and at some point, the British, and that is why some pundits were now alluding to the fact that the Chinese were now vouching for Chiwenga to take over.
In 2017, Chiwenga led a coup just after his return from China, toppling his long-time boss Mugabe.
Last year, he spent much of his time in the giant Asian country receiving treatment and upon his return, it was only Mr Zhao, the Chinese deputy envoy, to receive him at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare.
Could it be that the Chinese are preparing him to take over? Hence this then explains why Mnangagwa cut his leave also to meet Minister Wang. So much has been happening behind closed doors and perhaps one can also view this visit as a “make up” between friends who had had a fight.
Blessing Vava is a blogger based in Chipinge and can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com