This Man Emmerson Mnangagwa- Is He the Hope For Zimbabwe?

By Virginia Mwangi

Born on 15th September 1942, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is now the 3rd elected president of Zimbabwe having won by 50.8 percent.

Mnangagwa was born Southern Rhodesia to a large Shona family. His parents were farmers, with his father also being a politician. His family moved to Northern Rhodesia in the 1950s where he met Robert Mugabe, who was teaching in the area and inspired politics in Mnangagwa.

In 1963, Emmerson joined a newly-formed Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army as a guerrilla fighter and returned to Rhodesia in 1964.

At the Guerrilla, he led a group called the “Crocodile Gang”, which attacked white-owned farms in the Eastern Highlands.

Mnangagwa bombed a train near Fort Victoria in 1965 leading to his imprisoning for ten years. He was later released and deported back to Zambia after serving his sentence.

He then joined law school at the University of Zambia and later proceeded to the University of London, and practiced as an attorney before leaving the legal practice to rejoin ZANU in Portuguese Mozambique. This is where he met Robert Mugabe again, and became his assistant and bodyguard, accompanying him to the Lancaster House Agreement which resulted to Zimbabwe’s independence.

The Crocodile, as he is commonly referred to as for leading the Guerrilla Crocodile gang, has been known for his strict and ruthless tactics with incidences such as when he held the Minister of State Security docket. More than 10,000 people were killed by the Zimbabwe National Army’s Fifth Brigade, a majority of them being Ndebele civilians, during the Gukurahundi between 1982 and 1985  

He served as the Speaker of the Parliament until 2005 and was demoted to Minister of Rural Housing after he openly joked of succeeding the then President Mugabe.

He returned Mugabe’s favor during the 2008 general election where he ran Mugabe’s campaign, orchestrating political violence against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change then led Moses Tsvangirai.

Mnangagwa, who was Mugabe’s Vice President, was, however, opposed by Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe, which led to his dismissal as Vice-President on 6th November 2017 by Mugabe. Though it seemed like he had lost to Grace Mugabe, who also harbored ambitions to secure the top job, Mnangagwa managed to outmaneuver the now retired couple.

He fled to South Africa and immediately General Constantino Chiwenga launched a coup de’etat that forced Mugabe to resign and Mnangagwa returned to assume the Presidential power in Zimbabwe.

The elections he won in August 2018 have been termed as to have been for the purpose of legitimizing his presidency with allegations of fraud and military use on civilians that led bloodshed tainting his tenure.  

“I told the President that the current political and constitutional crisis in the country is not a matter between him and me but between the people of Zimbabwe and President Mugabe,” said the satisfied President Mnangagwa in a statement addressed to journalists on 31st July 2018.

He added that the people of Zimbabwe had clearly spoken on the matter terming the people’s voice as the voice of God which had clearly expressed their lack of trust and confidence in Mugabe’s leadership.

Almost 40 years of Mugabe rule is over, the fact that Emmerson Mnangagwa is faced with numerous challenges as the country’s new president cannot be overlooked and whether or not he is the new sigh of hope Zimbabwe needs is still to be contested but while he sits in power, we can only watch and wish beautiful Zimbabwe the best of luck. Hopefully, he has managed to walk away with lessons from his experience with Mugabe that will enable him to put Zimbabwe back to its feet economically and heal the land.