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<p><em>Zimbabweans in the diaspora are heeding the call by President Mnangagwa to come back home to invest and rebuild the economy. A consortium made up of Zimbabwe&#8217;s Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) and South Africa&#8217;s state-owned rail transport group Transnet delivered the first batch of rolling stock equipment to National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), as to strengthen trade and the recapitalisation of the country’s railway programme. However there has been concern that the equipment delivered is second hand and out-dated. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Daniel Sango caught up with DIDG Chairman Donovan Chimhandamba to discuss more details on the $400 million US dollars recapitalisation deal.</em></p>
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Zimbabwe diaspora, Transnet win $400mn NRZ tender

<p>A retired Zimbabwean general and acolyte of ex-president Robert Mugabe has formed a political party to challenge President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the polls later this year, the new grouping said on Monday.</p>
<div id="attachment_291244" style="width: 860px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-291244" class="wp-image-291244 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Emmerson-Mnangagwa_GettyImages.png" alt="" width="850" height="565" /><p id="caption-attachment-291244" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Emmerson Mnangagwa: Getty Images</p></div>
<p class="">Mugabe, 94, was forced to step down last November following a de facto military coup. Sources close to the former leader say he is bitter over his departure after 37 years in office and has given his support to the New Patriotic Front (NFP) party.</p>
<p class="">Ambrose Mutinhiri, a veteran of Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war, quit the ruling ZANU-PF party and gave up his parliamentary seat last Friday, then met Mugabe on Sunday to brief him about the latest developments, an NPF statement said.</p>
<p class="">The NPF said it was formed by ZANU-PF members and Zimbabweans “outraged by the unconstitutional and humiliating manner in which President Mugabe was criminally ousted from leadership &#8230; by real criminals who have shamefully damaged Zimbabwe’s fledgling democracy”.</p>
<p class="">Mugabe’s policies are blamed by many for the decline of Zimbabwe from breadbasket to basket case, with unemployment above 80 percent, dilapidated public infrastructure and severe shortages of hard currency that spawned hyper-inflation.</p>
<p class="">Mnangagwa said in January Zimbabwe would hold transparent elections by July and he would respect the result if the opposition won &#8211; a pledge crucial to unlocking urgently needed financial assistance and repairing relations with Western powers and international financial institutions.</p>
<p class="">Still, the NPF said it would soon challenge the legality of Mnangagwa’s government at the Constitutional Court.</p>
<p class="">The High Court ruled in November that the military intervention was lawful, as it halted a bid by people in his entourage to take over his duties, and African and Western countries have since accepted Mnangagwa’s presidency.</p>
<p class="">Mutinhiri, an ethnic Zezuru like Mugabe, has no known political base. He joins the ranks of other opposition political parties like the Movement for Democratic Change, whose founding president Morgan Tsvangirai died from cancer last month, and Joice Mujuru, a former Mugabe deputy.</p>
<p class="">The state-owned Herald newspaper, which reflects government thinking, asserted that Mutinhiri was a stalking horse for Mugabe, his wife Grace and the vanquished ZANU-PF G40 group that had opposed Mnangagwa’s political rise.</p>
<p class="">It was Grace’s tilt at power that triggered the military intervention in November.</p>
<p class="">Quoting an unnamed government source, the Herald said Mugabe and his wife were also anxious about their investments, including a dairy firm and several farms.</p>
<p class="">“Essentially, what it means is it’s the former president who is trying to stage a ‘second coming’ behind the person of the dutiful and beholden Ambrose Mutinhiri,” the source was quoted by the Herald as saying.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Editing by Ed Stoddard and Mark Heinrich</p>
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Mugabe acolyte forms new Zimbabwe political party to challenge Mnangagwa

<p>There is an old joke that used to do the rounds from the lips of journalists in Africa that goes something like this.</p>
<p>President Robert Mugabe invites Kenya’s President Daniel arap Moi to Zimbabwe to show him the wonders of his country’s infrastructure.</p>
<p>“See that bridge?” says Mugabe. Yes says Moi.</p>
<p>Mugabe pats his pocket”</p>
<p>“Twenty per cent.”</p>
<p>The following week Moi invites Mugabe to Kenya and asks him to look across a river outside Nairobi with wretched poor people fording it in the rain.</p>
<p>“See that bridge?” says Moi.</p>
<p>“I see no bridge,” replies Mugabe.</p>
<p>“One hundred per cent,” says Moi with a pat of the pocket.</p>
<p>Now we laugh at these jokes because they’re funny and sadly because they have a ring of truth as they encapsulate the cost of corruption to Africa. It is the so called public servants who get the pleasure and the poor of Africa that get the blame. It is the people wading through a swollen river who pay the price of corruption. The people who profit from corruption usually spend their ill-gotten gains on houses they don’t live in and cars they don’t drive; at the expense of people who have neither.</p>
<p>That is why I was pleased when I heard the new South African president’s pledge to stamp out corruption in his back yard. He has an independent judiciary that will make it easier to get credible convictions to punish the guilty and encourager les autres.</p>
<p>Yet it’s going to be tough; Cyril Ramaphosa will have to see many of his comrades put behind bars in bruising, public, trials that are likely to open up wounds that will last a lifetime.</p>
<p><strong>READ: </strong><a href="http://cnbc.africa/trending/state-capture/2018/02/19/atul-gupta-challenges-south-african-asset-freeze/">Atul Gupta challenges South African asset freeze</a></p>
<p>Right now, many of the people of South Africa are behind Ramaphosa and are sick of the waste of their country’s coffers through corruption. Cyrilmania appears everywhere; it may be many a moon before we see the opposition give the president a standing ovation in Parliament.</p>
<p>Well that is my point. Time is the enemy of politicians who want to make decisive change. For Ramaphosa needs to push hard, while his stock is high, to see the prosecutions though and tighten the gaps to make sure corruption cannot happen. He could take a leaf out of neighbouring Botswana’s book if he wants a model of how to control tightly pubic funds. The leaf may come in triplicate and signed by three people – but that is how Botswana guards its public money.</p>
<p>Overall Ramaphosa needs to move fast before the forces of corruption can organise and fight back. Corruptors are cunning people, that is how they get away with it for so long.</p>


Why Africa should throw people in jail – quickly

<p>What a contrast; just two months after Emmerson Mnangagwa was in hiding in South Africa, in fear of his life while battle tanks rumbled through his capital, he is going to walk, chin-up, into the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,  on  Monday  with a new investment brochure under his arm in the hope of persuading the world to pour hard currency into what is left of his economy. The document, in the possession of CNBC Africa, promises much, but bears little close scrutiny.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe has suffered an economic meltdown over the last 15 years and struggles on with crumbling infrastructure and no currency to call its own. Confidence fell during the dwindling economic fortunes  in the painful last years of President Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule hastened by a military takeover.</p>
<p>The canny crocodile – his nom de guerre from the liberation war– was being forced out by Mugabe. Now he has a new lease on life and knows that his survival <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/2018/01/18/zimbabwes-mnangagwa-says-hold-elections-four-five-months/">past the elections this year</a> hinges upon reviving the economy and putting money back into the pockets of an increasingly restive population.</p>
<p>The investment document is well intentioned and gets off on the right foot. It promises reform to become more attractive to foreign investors with the streamlining of legal frameworks, respect for bilateral trade agreements. There is also a promise of good governance and compensation when it all goes wrong.</p>
<p>It falls down a bit with an ambiguous line dealing with the protection of property.</p>
<p>“The government commits to the protection of all investments from expropriation, or from measures taken that will have a similar effect, except for a public purpose…”</p>
<p>What exactly a “public purpose” means in this document is open to debate. Does it mean that when the public – or the government on their behalf – needs property, it can take it? Wasn’t that the justification for the disastrous land seizures from commercial farmers that began in 2000? The investment document also promises investors: “adequate and effective compensation”.  Unlikely, to say the least, from a cash-strapped Treasury in a country where foreign currency is rationed.</p>
<p>Yet the document persists with a promise to compensate farmers in Zimbabwe who lost their land and is considering setting up a tribunal to determine how much should be paid. The farmers, a number of whom were chased off their land by armed mobs, are likely to be sceptical. Many voters who supported the land seizures are likely to be flummoxed.</p>
<p>The document for Davos also promises to drop the infamous indigenisation requirement, that is 51% ownership by Zimbabweans, that has discouraged many investors. Yet, it says this unpopular requirement will remain for diamonds and platinum two of the big earning minerals. It says the ministry will be charged with drawing up a new bill and regulations to govern diamonds and platinum. How long that takes is not written in the document, but the longer it takes to create certainty the more likely investors are likely to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>Mnangagwa maybe needs to be a little bolder and clearer if he is to win back foreign investors. His predecessor and former mentor Mugabe will be remembered for ushering a once robust economy into steep economic decline. Maybe Mnangagwa needs to work fast to stand a chance of being celebrated for doing the opposite by showing the world that when it comes to business the crocodile has teeth.</p>


What Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is offering investors at WEF Davos  

<p>Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party has fired from parliament 11 allies of former leader Robert Mugabe, as President Emmerson Mnangagwa continues a purge of officials that publicly supported his old boss and wife Grace.</p>
<div id="attachment_291244" style="width: 860px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-291244" class="wp-image-291244 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Emmerson-Mnangagwa_GettyImages.png" alt="" width="850" height="565" /><p id="caption-attachment-291244" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Emmerson Mnangagwa: Getty Images</p></div>
<p>Mnangagwa came to power in November after 93-year-old Mugabe was forced to resign following a defacto military coup.</p>
<p>Mnangagwa has spoken against retribution but local media reports say a ZANU-PF restructuring process around the country was targeting those who publicly backed Mugabe and Grace, whose tilt at power resulted in the military intervention.</p>
<p>According to a transcript of parliament procedures from Thursday, deputy speaker of parliament Mabel Chinomona said ZANU-PF had notified the house of assembly that the 11 no longer represented its interests, triggering their dismissal.</p>
<p>Some of the legislators were cabinet ministers in Mugabe’s government. In November ZANU-PF fired five top Mugabe allies from parliament, including Jonathan Moyo, a fiercely combative mouthpiece for a faction that backed Grace Mugabe’s rise.</p>
<p>Many of Mugabe’s political allies were either arrested by the military in a series of spectacular raids in the early hours of Nov. 15 or fled to neighboring countries.</p>
<p>In private, Mnangagwa’s allies worry that some of Mugabe’s supporters could regroup and campaign against the new president in elections that will be held in four to five months.</p>
<p>Moyo told Reuters last week that the international community must help remove the “military government” that has taken power or risk the country descending into chaos.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Michael Perry</p>
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Zimbabwe ruling party fires 11 Mugabe allies from parliament

<p>HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Two former Zimbabwean cabinet ministers who served under ex-president Robert Mugabe have been charged with corruption, their lawyers said on Saturday, the latest sign of a crackdown on officials loyal to Mugabe.</p>
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<p data-reactid="41">Mugabe, 93, stood down in November after 37 years in power following a de facto military coup, making way for his former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over.</p>
<p>When the military seized power they arrested key allies of Mugabe and his wife, Grace, who was vying with Mnangagwa to succeed her husband.</p>
<div class="DPSlot_container_2dHIN DPSlot_inline_1oeo6 in-article-tag">Former foreign minister Walter Mzembi and ex-energy minister Samuel Undenge were charged on Friday with “criminal abuse of office”, their lawyers said. They both deny wrongdoing.</div>
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Undenge is accused of issuing a $12,650 contract without due tender to a company that did no work, according to a charge sheet seen by Reuters.</p>
<p data-reactid="45">Mzembi and Undenge were both granted bail on Saturday, asked to surrender their passports and remanded until Jan. 22 when their cases will be heard.</p>
<p data-reactid="46">“We are going to make an application for an exception to the charge because the charges that my client is facing are ridiculous,” Job Sikhala, Mzembi’s lawyer, told reporters outside the court.</p>
<p data-reactid="47">Undenge’s lawyer Alex Muchadehama described the case against his client as a “circus”.</p>
<p>Former finance minister Ignatius Chombo is on bail after being charged in November over accusations he tried to defraud the central bank over a decade ago. Chombo denies wrongdoing.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="49">Reporting by Alfonce Mbizwo; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Ros Russell</p>
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Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa closes in on former Zimbabwean ministers

<p>The African Export and Import Bank has pledged up to $1.5 billion in new loans and financial guarantees to Zimbabwe in a major boost for new President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, the bank’s president and chairman said on Tuesday.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-42002 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/harare_-_wikipedia.jpg" alt="Zimbabwe halves 2016 growth forecast to 1.4 percent" width="1365" height="1024" /></p>
<p>Mnangagwa, who took over last month after veteran autocrat Robert Mugabe quit following a de facto military coup, has vowed to focus on reviving the struggling economy and provide jobs in a nation with an unemployment rate exceeding 80 percent.</p>
<p>Afreximbank was only international lender that stood by Zimbabwe throughout Mugabe’s repressive 37-year rule, but its quick announcement of a fresh package of loans and guarantees appeared to be a vote of confidence in the new government.</p>
<p>Cairo-based Afreximbank was a major funder of Zimbabwe while the country was cut off from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for having defaulted on its debt in 1999.</p>
<p>Bank president and chairman Okey Oramah told reporters after a meeting with Mnangagwa and senior government officials that Afreximbank would provide $150 million to local banks to help them pay for outstanding critical imports.</p>
<p>”We also discussed a number of other areas that involve additional investment from us for something that will be in the order of $1 billion to $1.5 billion that will include certain kinds of guarantees to encourage investors to come to Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>“We&#8230;want to make sure that we support the stabilization of the economy, that means providing liquidity to make sure that the situation where people are rushing everytime to look for cash is dealt with,” said Oramah.</p>
<p>In August, before Mugabe’s ouster, Afreximbank provided $600 million to help Zimbabwe pay for imports and $300 million to allow it to print more “bond notes”, a quasi currency that officially trades a par with the U.S. dollar.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe has a foreign debt of more than $7 billion and in September said it would not be able to pay $1.8 billion in arrears to the World Bank and African Development Bank until economic fundamentals improved.</p>
<p>The southern African nation, which dumped its hyperinflation-hit currency in 2009, is struggling with a severe dollar crunch that has seen banks fail to avail cash to customers while importers struggle to pay for imports.</p>
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<p>Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa promised in a budget speech last week to re-engage with international lenders, curb spending and attract investors to revive the economy.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Chinamasa described Afreximbank as a “pillar of strength” and said the economy was “in for some very good times”.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by Mark Heinrich</p>
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Afreximbank pledges up to $1.5 BN to post-Mugabe Zimbabwe

<p data-reactid="35">HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe has left the country for medical checks in Singapore, his first foreign travel since the army forced him from office last month, a state security official said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The 93-year-old, who ruled the southern African nation for 37 years, resigned after the army and his ruling ZANU-PF party turned against him when it became clear that his 52-year-old wife, Grace, was being groomed as his successor.</p>
<p>http://cnbc.africa/news/political/2017/12/04/zimbabwe-swears-first-post-mugabe-cabinet/</p>
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<p data-reactid="45">Until recently the world’s oldest head of state, Mugabe had a reputation for extensive and expensive international travel, including regular medical trips to Singapore &#8211; a source of public anger among his impoverished citizens.</p>
<p>He left Harare with Grace and aides on Monday evening, the official said. He is expected to make a stop-over in Malaysia, where his daughter, Bona, is expecting a second child.</p>
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<p data-reactid="47">“He has gone for a routine medical trip to Singapore,” said the official, who has organised Mugabe’s security protection but who is not authorised to speak to the media. “He was due for a check-up but events of the last few weeks made it impossible for him to travel.”</p>
<p data-reactid="48">The trip means Mugabe will not be in Zimbabwe when ZANU-PF endorses President Emmerson Mnangagwa as its leader and presidential candidate for next year’s elections during a one-day special congress on Friday.</p>
<p data-reactid="49">The security official would not say how Mugabe was travelling although the privately owned NewsDay newspaper said he was on a state-owned Air Zimbabwe plane.</p>
<p data-reactid="50">Mugabe was granted immunity from prosecution and assured of his safety under his resignation deal, a source of frustration to many Zimbabweans who accused him of looting state coffers and destroying the economy during his time in power.</p>
<p data-reactid="51">Another government official told Reuters last month Mugabe had been due to travel to Singapore on Nov. 16 but was unable to leave because the military had confined him to his private home the previous day.</p>
<p data-reactid="52">George Charamba, a senior information ministry official, declined to comment.</p>
<p data-reactid="53">Under Zimbabwe’s Presidential Pension and Retirement Benefits Act, a former head of state is entitled to perks including limited foreign travel and medical insurance.</p>
<p>“These are very standard features of a retired president,” another government official said, trying to head off any controversy. “You are making a storm out of nothing.”</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="55">Editing by James Macharia and Richard Balmforth</p>
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Zimbabwe’s Mugabe flies to Singapore, first trip since ouster

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<p>Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, appointed senior military officials to top posts in his new cabinet and chose a veteran cabinet minister to head the finance ministry.</p>


Mnangagwa, military share spoils of victory

<p><em>Yvonne Rowa, University of Adelaide</em></p>
<p>Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s forced resignation invites a re-examination of the military’s role in political affairs. While a professional military is typically expected to refrain from politics, the interface between security and politics can sometimes be blurred.</p>
<div id="attachment_290884" style="width: 2058px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-290884" class="wp-image-290884 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/104844149-GettyImages-874355048.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365" /><p id="caption-attachment-290884" class="wp-caption-text">HARARE, ZIMBABWE &#8211; NOVEMBER 15 : A military tank seals off a main road to the presidential office within the military activities taking place in Harare, Zimbabwe on November 15, 2017. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)</p></div>
<p>In Kenya for example, the military Chiefs of Staff usually come from the president’s ethnic community making them partisan to the head of state and the party he represents. Most recently, there have been allegations of the military’s involvement in a poll rigging scheme with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government.</p>
<p>Other countries such as Uganda, Egypt and Thailand have experienced more flagrant examples of the military’s involvement in politics.</p>
<p>Recent events in Zimbabwe need to be understood within this context. The Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) latest stunt must be read as political subterfuge. The military has been enmeshed in Zimbabwe’s politics since the liberation struggle. While it has occasionally flexed its muscle to support Mugabe’s grip on power, this time around it has intervened to shore up the ruling party’s fledgling support after years of the former president’s unpopular rule.</p>
<h2>Officers who call the tune</h2>
<p>The ZDF have been an invisible actor in the country’s protracted crisis. The intervention that resulted in Mugabe’s resignation was the result of a slow brewing coup that has been occasioned by the military’s involvement in the country’s politics since independence in 1980.</p>
<p>The military has been accused of violence and intimidation, as well as participation in electoral malpractices. ZDF’s human rights violations, economic plunder and entanglement in politics have been widely documented. And its professional misconduct has fomented poor civil-military relations.</p>
<p>The military takeover is therefore a manifestation of undercurrents that have been present for years.</p>
<p>According to the latest research, Zimbabwe is ranked 81 out of 133 countries in terms of military strength, just after the Middle Eastern nation of Kuwait, and one rank above Georgia, which is a former Russian territory. It has a total of 52,000 military personnel, 30,000 active personnel and 22,000 reserves.</p>
<p>ZDF prides itself as having been the liberator in the country’s struggle for independence. During the fight for independence political figures were deployed in the military rank and file to motivate the fighters. At the time, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) was the political wing of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). This close relationship between the military and political wings persisted after independence.</p>
<p>Mugabe has regularly gifted the military through the allocation of exploited resources. He has also rewarded military men with high positions in the civil service to retain their loyalty, for example the late Mike Karakadzai and Samuel Muvuti. These dynamics have progressively obscured the separation between the army, state and party.</p>
<h2>Open support for the ZANU Patriotic Front</h2>
<p>The military has been openly partisan in its support for ZANU-PF. The politics of patronage and wealth accumulation has characterised the relationship on both sides. In suppressing the opposition, ZDF has created an uneven political playing field through intimidation and election rigging. The Joint Operations Command which coordinates the military, police and intelligence has been central to ZANU-PF’s security policy.</p>
<p>The military has also taken an openly antagonistic stance towards the opposition. An example of this was Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba’s description of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as a national security threat.</p>
<p>By engineering Mugabe’s ouster the military has reasserted its position as an important player in Zimbabwean politics. It may not hesitate to intervene in the event of another “national crisis”.</p>
<h2>Factors in the Mugabe ouster</h2>
<p>In their clamour to oust an oppressive ruler and his ambitious wife the Zimbabwean people have placed their hopes in a devious military.</p>
<p>It is hard to tell whether Mugabe’s Achilles’s heel was his wife, Grace, or an equally scheming military, which lured him into a false sense of security and then double-crossed him when he failed to indulge their political whims.</p>
<p>The current political crisis could in fact be the climax of an unwitting convergence of machinations from both sides. By casting Grace as the villain, and taking on the role of saviour, the military is attempting to erase the part it has played in Zimbabwe’s fractious politics.</p>
<p>By joining in the calls for the installation of former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the people seem to have momentarily discounted his dark past in the country’s politics. Examples of his misdeeds include his role as chief architect in the Gukurahundi massacres which was carried out between 1983 and 1987. Approximately 20,000 Ndebele’s were murdered by the military and security forces.</p>
<p>Another dark cloud that hangs over him includes his special relationship with the military. They were jointly involved in the economic plunder of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.</p>
<p>The former vice president has also been known to persecute his opponents.</p>
<p>While he has the support of ZANU-PF and the top military brass when he becomes president he will face the challenge of de-linking himself from his murky past.</p>
<h2>What next for Zimbabwe?</h2>
<p>The military takeover strongly suggests that the men in uniform are intent on determining the country’s political trajectory. As such, there are limited leadership choices open to Zimbabweans. With the military’s support, Mnangagwa will take over in the interim and potentially win a future election. But he has a blemished past, which the ZDF cannot sanitise. And his installation could plunge the country into further uncertainty.</p>
<p>For Zimbabwe to take a different route, two things need to happen: the radical security sector reforms that have stalled since 2008 need to be revived. These reforms should be targeted towards professionalising the sector by addressing past misconduct, mainstreaming human rights, and introducing community policing. This should go in tandem with depoliticising the sector, and demilitarising the state and some civilian populations.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87872/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />In addition, the people of Zimbabwe need to agree on a framework for a viable transitional justice process.</p>
<p>This article was originally published on The Conversation.</p>


Op-Ed: After Mugabe: why the role of Zimbabwe’s army can’t be trusted

<p><em>Nic Cheeseman |University of Birmingham</em></p>
<p>Zimbabwe has a new leader. Robert Mugabe is out. His former ally turned rival, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is in. What now?</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-292290 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Zimbabwe_Emmerson_GettyImages-RZ1.png" alt="" width="850" height="566" /></p>
<p>After ecstatic celebrations to mark Mugabe’s resignation thoughts have began to turn to what comes next. Mugabe may have exited the political scene, but it remains dominated by the same political party – Zanu-PF – that sustained his rule.</p>
<p>Moreover, the country’s president-elect, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is hardly a breath of fresh air. Having held a series of cabinet positions under Mugabe, and served as First Vice President between December 2014 and his sacking in November 2017, he looks more like a force for continuity than change.</p>
<p>As a result, talk in Harare quickly turned to what kind of leader Mnangagwa will be, and the system of government that would best serve ordinary Zimbabweans.</p>
<h2>The fork in the road</h2>
<p>My conversations with people on the streets of the capital, Harare, about the political system the country needs suggests that two distinct camps are emerging: those who want elections to be held as soon as possible, and those who say the polls should be postponed and a transitional government established.</p>
<p>Both of these options have genuine “pros” but also strong “cons”. As is so often the case, there is no perfect answer that solves all problems.</p>
<p>It is understandable that many Zimbabweans want a period of calm and orderly government after the twists and turns of recent weeks, and believe that it would be better to form an inclusive government that would feature representatives of all of the main political parties – a kind of power sharing in all but name.</p>
<p>Even though I have consistently argued in favour of the value of democracy and elections in Africa, I have to admit that the “transitioners” have some viable arguments.</p>
<p>The most obvious is that a period of stability and more consensual government might facilitate much needed reform of the economy and also the wider political and legal system. After all, rival parties are unlikely to come to agreement on these issues if they are immediately thrust into an election campaign.</p>
<p>The “transitioners” also have a point when it comes to democracy. Few people in Zimbabwe believe that it’s possible for elections to be free and fair if they are held between July and August next year, as currently scheduled. Given this, and the current divisions within the opposition, a rush to elections is likely to result in a convincing victory for Zanu-PF under problematic circumstances.</p>
<p>A transitional arrangement would allow for much needed electoral reforms to be put in place, creating the potential for a better quality process and a more consensual outcome later on.</p>
<h2><strong>Testing the Crocodile</strong></h2>
<p>But there is also another camp that wants to see Mnangagwa, popularly known as The Crocodile, to face an election as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Just like their counterparts in the “transitioner” camp, “electioneers”, have some strong arguments. Whatever one wants to call Mnangagwa’s rise to power – from a coup to an internal party squabble – it is clear that it has not been a high quality democratic transition. And while it is clear that the overthrow of Mugabe was hugely popular, we don’t know if the same applies to a Mnangagwa presidency. An election would settle that question.</p>
<p>It would also give the new government a popular mandate to undertake economic reforms, whoever wins power. This could be important to the success of the reform project, because things are likely to get worse before they get better, and the country’s economic medicine may prove to be a bitter pill to swallow.</p>
<p>Holding elections would also do one thing that postponing them will not; it will test the commitment of the new government to democratic norms and values from the get-go. One of the main reasons that Zimbabwean elections have been poor quality is that Zanu-PF and the military have intervened to make sure this was the case. As another friend put it, “If they are really committed to doing the right thing, they can do it right away and the elections will not be too bad”.</p>
<h2>Learning from the past</h2>
<p>“Electioneers” are also motivated by scepticism that an inclusive transitional government would get much done. Both Zimbabwe and Kenya have had power-sharing governments in the recent past, and while they both introduced new constitutions they also saw high levels of corruption and limited security sector reform. They also both led to elections that were denounced by opposition parties as being unfree and unfair.</p>
<p>It’s fair to ask: why would it be different this time?</p>
<p>The question is particularly pertinent given the current composition of parliament. Because Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change boycotted a series of by-elections on the basis that they would not be free and fair, it has lost many of the seats it won in 2013. As a result, any transitional arrangement that deferred elections and “froze” the current parliament for the next three years would have a big legislative advantage to Zanu-PF.</p>
<p>It is also important to keep in mind that economics cannot be divorced from politics: Zimbabwe’s current economic difficulties stem precisely from an unaccountable political framework that ignored the interests of the people. Given that recent events have emboldened the military and given them an even stronger voice within government, this is a pressing concern.</p>
<p>Deferring electoral reforms in order to focus on economic recovery may therefore prove to be a self defeating strategy.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the form of government that evolves in Zimbabwe will not be a product of popular dialogue. One of the distinctive features of this process is that for the most part it has been conducted behind closed doors by a small elite.</p>
<p>Don’t be fooled by the pictures of tens of thousands of people marching on Saturday – all sides have invoked popular support, but none have actually encouraged ordinary people to say what they want, or given them a seat at the table. This is a worrying sign if strengthening democracy is the long-term goal.</p>
<p>Recent public statements by the main parties at the time of going to press suggests that they are not converging on an interim administration, and so the “electioneers” may get their wish. That could still change because talks are ongoing and both sides would gain something from a delay. But if it doesn’t the people will be able to have their say on how they want their country to be run.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88023/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />Of course, voting will not actually equate to “having a say” unless the country’s new leader follows through on his promise to build a “new democracy”, and the ruling party can kick the habit of a lifetime. Watch this space.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This article was originally published on The Conversation.</p>


Will Mnangagwa usher in a new democracy? The view from Zimbabwe

<p>Emmerson Mnangagwa will cap a stunning political comeback when he is sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president on Friday, bringing the final curtain down on the 37-year rule of Robert Mugabe.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-292290 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Zimbabwe_Emmerson_GettyImages-RZ1.png" alt="" width="850" height="566" /></p>
<p data-reactid="43">Mugabe, 93, who had led Zimbabwe from independence in 1980, stepped down on Tuesday after the army seized power and the ruling ZANU-PF party turned against him.</p>
<p data-reactid="44">The world’s oldest serving head of state resigned as parliament began a process to impeach him, sparking wild celebrations in the streets. His sudden fall had been triggered by a battle to succeed him that pitted Mnangagwa against Mugabe’s much younger wife Grace.</p>
<p data-reactid="46">Just two weeks ago, she seemed to have the upper hand after Mugabe fired Mnangagwa on Nov. 6 as vice president for showing “traits of disloyalty”.</p>
<p data-reactid="47">That prompted Mnangagwa, 75, long one of Mugabe’s most trusted lieutenants, to flee the country in fear for his life. It also brought the tanks into the streets.</p>
<p>Addressing a cheering crowd in Harare on Wednesday night after his return, Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was entering a new stage of democracy.</p>
<p data-reactid="49">“The people have spoken. The voice of the people is the voice of God,” he told thousands of supporters.</p>
<p data-reactid="50">On Thursday, Mnangagwa urged citizens not to undertake “vengeful retribution” &#8211; striking a tone of reconciliation that echoed those made by Mugabe almost four decades ago.</p>
<p>Mugabe was granted immunity from prosecution and assured that his safety would be protected in his home country as part of a deal that led to his resignation, sources close to the negotiations said on Thursday.</p>
<p>Some of Mnangagwa’s supporters have called for unspecified action against the “G40” group that backed Mugabe and his wife, known as “Gucci Grace” for her reputed dedication to shopping, an affront to many in a country with an unemployment rate of 90 percent.</p>
<h3><strong>BLOODSHED OF </strong>1980S</h3>
<p>Rebuilding a shattered economy and restoring investor confidence will be at the top of the agenda for Mnangagwa, who carries his own baggage after decades of service to Mugabe, who was widely accused of resorting to human rights abuses and election-rigging.</p>
<p data-reactid="72">Mnangagwa earned the nickname “Ngwena”, Shona for crocodile, an animal famed and feared in Zimbabwean lore for stealth and ruthlessness.</p>
<p data-reactid="73">He backed Mugabe’s economic nationalism, especially a drive to force foreign firms to hand majority stakes to local blacks, suggesting he may not be the pro-market pragmatist many investors have been hoping for.</p>
<p data-reactid="74">Most controversially, he was in charge of internal security in the mid-1980s when Mugabe deployed a crack North Korean-trained brigade against rebels loyal to his rival Joshua Nkomo.</p>
<p data-reactid="76">Rights groups say 20,000 civilians, mostly from the Ndebele tribe, were killed. Mugabe denies genocide or crimes against humanity but has admitted it was a “moment of madness”.</p>
<p data-reactid="77">Mnangagwa’s role remains shrouded in mystery.</p>
<p>The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said it was cautiously optimistic a Mnangagwa presidency would not “mimic and replicate the evil, corrupt, decadent and incompetent Mugabe regime”.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe’s bourse, which had been on a rapid rise, lost $6 billion during this month’s military intervention as its main index fell by 40 percent. Analysts say it will fall even further before recovering.</p>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="78">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="79">Writing by Ed Stoddard; editing by Andrew Roche</p>
</div>


Mnangagwa the “Crocodile” to be sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president

<p>Zimbabwe’s economic growth is threatened by high government spending, an untenable foreign exchange regime and inadequate reforms, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-43288 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/imf-headquarters.jpg" alt="Low oil out impacts Angola’s economic growth" width="600" height="340" /></p>
<p data-reactid="41">Zimbabwe was once one of Africa’s most promising economies but suffered decades of decline as former President Robert Mugabe pursued policies that included the violent seizure of white-owned commercial farms and money-printing that led to hyperinflation.</p>
<p>Mugabe, 93, resigned on Tuesday after nearly four decades in power following pressure from the military, the ruling ZANU-PF party and the general population.</p>
<div class="DPSlot_container_2dHIN DPSlot_inline_1oeo6 in-article-tag"></div>
<p data-reactid="43">New ZANU-PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to be sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president on Friday.</p>
<p data-reactid="44">Zimbabwe has not been able to borrow from international lenders since 1999 when it started defaulting on its debt, and has $1.75 billion rand in foreign arrears.</p>
<p data-reactid="45">“The economic situation in Zimbabwe remains very difficult,” Gene Leon, IMF’s mission chief for Zimbabwe said in a statement to Reuters late on Wednesday.</p>
<p data-reactid="46">“Immediate action is critical to reduce the deficit to a sustainable level, accelerate structural reforms, and re-engage with the international community to access much needed financial support.”</p>
<p data-reactid="47">Leon said Zimbabwe should resolve arrears to the World Bank, African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank, among other reforms, for the IMF to consider future financing request from the country.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe should also be ready to implement strong macroeconomic policies and structural reforms to restore fiscal and debt sustainability, Leon said.</p>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="48">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="49">Reporting by David Lawder in Washington and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo in Johannesburg; Editing by James Macharia</p>
</div>


Zimbabwe’s economic situation “very difficult”: IMF mission chief

<p>Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe was granted immunity from prosecution and assured that his safety would be protected in his home country as part of a deal that led to his resignation, sources close to the negotiations said on Thursday.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-290916 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/GettyImages-Robert_Grace-Mugabe_RZ.png" alt="" width="850" height="566" /></p>
<p data-reactid="46">Mugabe, who had led Zimbabwe from independence in 1980, stepped down on Tuesday after the army seized power and the ruling party turned against him. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former vice president sacked by Mugabe earlier this month, is set to be sworn in as president on Friday.</p>
<p data-reactid="47">A government source said Mugabe, who is 93, told negotiators he wanted to die in Zimbabwe and had no plans to live in exile.</p>
<div class="DPSlot_container_2dHIN DPSlot_inline_1oeo6"></div>
<p data-reactid="49">“It was very emotional for him and he was forceful about it,” said the source, who is not authorised to speak on the details of the negotiated settlement.</p>
<p data-reactid="50">“For him it was very important that he be guaranteed security to stay in the country&#8230;although that will not stop him from travelling abroad when he wants to or has to,” the source said.</p>
<p data-reactid="51">Mugabe resigned on Tuesday as parliament began a process to impeach him, sparking wild celebrations in the streets. His rapid downfall after 37 years in power was triggered by a battle to succeed him that pitted Mnangagwa against Mugabe’s much younger wife Grace.</p>
<p data-reactid="52">“The outgoing president is obviously aware of the public hostility to his wife, the anger in some circles about the manner in which she conducted herself and approached ZANU-PF party politics,” a second source said.</p>
<p data-reactid="53">“In that regard, it became necessary to also assure him that his whole family, including the wife, would be safe and secure.”</p>
<p>Mugabe had clung on to power for a week after the military intervened. He angered many Zimbabweans when he did not resign in a televised address on Sunday as many had anticipated.</p>
<p data-reactid="55">The government source said the tipping point for him was the realisation that he would be impeached and ousted in an undignified way.</p>
<p data-reactid="56">“When the process started, he then realised he had lost the party,” the source said.</p>
<p data-reactid="57">Mugabe will receive a retirement package that includes a pension, housing, holiday and transport allowance, health insurance, limited air travel and security.</p>
<p data-reactid="58">The ageing former president was “rugged and drained” by events of the past week and may travel to Singapore for medical checks in the coming weeks, the source said. He had been due to leave for Singapore in mid-November before the military put him under house arrest.</p>
<p data-reactid="59">Mugabe has maintained that he leads a frugal life and that he does not possess any wealth or properties outside Zimbabwe.</p>
<p data-reactid="60">But last month a legal quarrel between Grace and a Belgian-based businessman over a $1.3 million diamond ring lifted a veil on the wealthy lifestyle of Mugabe and his wife, nicknamed “Gucci Grace” for her reputed dedication to shopping.</p>
<p>In Zimbabwe, Mugabe runs a dairy business and the family has several farms while local and foreign media have reported that Grace has bought properties and luxury cars in South Africa.</p>
<h3>MEET THE NEW BOSS</h3>
<p data-reactid="63">Addressing a cheering crowd in Harare on Wednesday night, new leader Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was entering a new stage of democracy.</p>
<p data-reactid="64">Mnangagwa had returned to the country earlier in the day, having fled for his safety when Mugabe sacked him as vice president two weeks ago to smooth a path to the succession for Grace.</p>
<p data-reactid="65">“The people have spoken. The voice of the people is the voice of God,” Mnangagwa told thousands of supporters gathered outside the ruling ZANU-PF party’s offices in the capital.</p>
<p data-reactid="66">The army appears to have engineered a trouble-free path to power for Mnangagwa, who was for decades a faithful lieutenant of Mugabe and member of his elite.</p>
<p data-reactid="67">His own human rights record also stirs hostility in many Zimbabweans. He was in charge of internal security when rights groups say 20,000 civilians were killed in the 1980s.</p>
<p data-reactid="68">Restoring the country’s fortunes and international standing will be a challenge. Human rights abuses and flawed elections prompted many Western countries to impose sanctions in the early 2000s that further hurt the economy, even with Chinese investment to soften the blow.</p>
<p data-reactid="69">Staging clean elections next year will be key to winning fresh funds.</p>
<p data-reactid="70">In its first official comments since Mugabe resigned, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said it was cautiously optimistic that a Mnangagwa presidency would not “mimic and replicate the evil, corrupt, decadent and incompetent Mugabe regime”.</p>
<p data-reactid="71">Zimbabwe was once one of Africa’s most promising economies but suffered decades of decline as Mugabe pursued policies that included the violent seizure of white-owned commercial farms and money-printing that led to hyperinflation.</p>
<p data-reactid="72">Most of its 13 million people remain poor and face currency shortages and sky-high unemployment, something Mnangagwa promised to address.</p>
<p data-reactid="73">A senior International Monetary Fund official said Zimbabwe’s economic situation remained “very difficult” as sustainable growth is threatened by high government spending, an untenable foreign exchange regime and inadequate reforms</p>
<p>“Immediate action is critical to reduce the deficit to a sustainable level, accelerate structural reforms, and re-engage with the international community to access much needed financial support,” Gene Leon, IMF’s mission chief for Zimbabwe said.</p>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="74">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="75">Editing by James Macharia and Angus MacSwan</p>
</div>


Mugabe granted immunity, assured of safety in Zimbabwe: sources

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<p>According to Dr Conrad Beyers, Department of Actuarial Science, University of Pretoria, Barclays Africa Chair in Actuarial Science, the credit rating downgrades that were widely expected for &#8220;Black Friday&#8221; appear less likely after the resignation of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Dr Conrad Beyers joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Zimbabwe could save SA from downgrade

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<p>IFP leader, Mangoshuthu Buthelezi also gave us his views on the unfolding situation in Zimbabwe and the trend of African leaders lingering long after the party is over. He joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


ANC helped prop up Mugabe’s govt past its sell-by date – Mangosuthu Buthelezi

<p>Zimbabwe’s former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa will be sworn in as president on Friday marking a new era for a country dominated by Robert Mugabe whose swift downfall this week ended nearly four decades in power.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-291761 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Zim_Emmerson-Mnangagwa_GettyImages_RZ1.png" alt="" width="850" height="605" /></p>
<p data-reactid="43">The ruling ZANU-PF party has nominated Mnangagwa to fill the vacancy left by Mugabe on Tuesday and he will be sworn in on Friday, said Jacob Mudenda, the speaker of parliament.</p>
<p data-reactid="45">Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa as vice president two weeks ago to smooth a path to the succession for his wife Grace, who is much younger than the 93-year-old leader. Mnangagwa fled for his own safety and the military seized control, shattering Mugabe’s authority.</p>
<p data-reactid="46">Mugabe held on for a week with ZANU-PF and others urging him to resign. He stepped down finally on Tuesday moments after parliament began an impeachment process. People danced in the streets and some brandished posters of Mnangagwa and army chief General Constantino Chiwenga, who led the takeover.</p>
<p data-reactid="47">Mnangagwa will land at Manyame Airbase in Harare at 6pm (1600 GMT), state broadcaster ZBC said.</p>
<p data-reactid="48">“I am advised that the swearing-in ceremony is planned for Friday,” Mudenda said. Mnangagwa issued a statement from hiding on Tuesday calling on Zimbabweans to unite to rebuild the country.</p>
<p>Other African countries have seen veteran leaders ousted by popular uprisings or in elections.</p>
<p data-reactid="50">By contrast, the military has ushered Mnangagwa to the threshold of power and for decades he was a faithful ally of Mugabe in charge of internal security in the mid-1980s when rights groups say 20,000 civilians were killed.</p>
<p data-reactid="51"><strong>“OLD ELITES”</strong></p>
<p data-reactid="52">Zimbabwe’s next leader faces the task of restoring the country’s fortunes. Alleged human rights abuses and flawed elections prompted many Western countries to impose sanctions in the early-2000s that hurt the economy.</p>
<p>Chinese investment softened the blow but the population of 16 million remains mainly poor and faces currency shortages and high unemployment. Staging clean elections next year will be key to winning fresh investment.</p>
<p data-reactid="60">Mnangagwa is almost certain to win that election but it would be a victory for the country’s “old elites” with the aid of China, said Guenther Nooke, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal representative for Africa.</p>
<p data-reactid="61">“He will manage to get elected using fear or many tricks, and then we’ll have a succession from one tyrant to the next,” Nooke told broadcaster SWR2.</p>
<p>China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday it respected Mugabe’s decision to resign.</p>
<p data-reactid="74">Mugabe leaves a complex legacy. He is among the last of a generation of African leaders who led their countries to independence and then ruled. That group includes Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Julius Nyerere in Tanzania, Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Ivory Coast and Nelson Mandela in South Africa.</p>
<p data-reactid="75">But he also presided over a steep decline in Zimbabwe’s economy, won a series of elections after stifling the opposition and he stands accused of persecuting opponents.</p>
<p data-reactid="76">The forced takeover of white-owned farms from around 2000 aimed to bolster populist support for Mugabe but crippled foreign exchange earnings from agriculture and led to a period of hyperinflation.</p>
<p data-reactid="77">“President Mugabe will be remembered as a fearless pan-Africanist liberation fighter and the father of the independent Zimbabwean nation,” the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said in a statement.</p>
<p data-reactid="80">It said his decision to step down would enhance his legacy.</p>
<p>Many Zimbabweans also remain hostile to Mnangagwa because of his human rights record.</p>
<p>“The dark past is not going to disappear. They will be following him around like a piece of chewing gum on his shoe,” International Crisis Group’s southern Africa senior consultant Piers Pigou said.</p>
<p>“For him to really be seen to be doing the right thing, he’s going to have to introduce policies that fundamentally undermine the power structures of ZANU-PF, through a shift to genuine political pluralism and a decoupling of the party and state.”</p>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="81">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="82">Reporting by Harare and Johannesburg bureaus; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Janet Lawrence</p>
</div>


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Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwe diaspora, Transnet win $400mn NRZ tender

Mugabe acolyte forms new Zimbabwe political party to challenge Mnangagwa

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What Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is offering investors at WEF Davos

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