“We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice,” he said. “As soon as we have accomplished our mission, we expect that the situation will return to normalcy.”
There is a strong belief that Mnangagwa too is now surrounded by criminals and it is these criminals that are pushing that he stays in power until 2030 so that they can continue their looting.
Mnangagwa vowed to end corruption in his inaugural speech as the country’s second executive president on 24 November 2017.
“As we focus on recovering our economy, we must shed misbehaviours and acts of indiscipline which have characterised the past. Acts of corruption must stop forthwith. Where these occur swift justice must be served to show each and all that crime and other acts of economic sabotage can only guarantee ruin to perpetrators. We have to aspire to be a clean nation, one sworn to high moral standards and deserved rewards,” he said.
Indeed corruption ended for a few months after his swearing in but as people realised that it was all talk and no action, it started growing resulting in those accused of corruption being arrested and released in what was to become known as “catch and release”.
The corruption is now out of bounds and those involved are allegedly people surrounding Mnangagwa who are looting the country with impunity. They would like him to stay on but Mnangagwa is aware of the dire consequences he could face by staying on.
Former Zimbabwe Defence Industries boss Tshinga Dube said, just before his death, that those calling for Mnangagwa to stay on were doing so for personal interests.
“Advisers are problematic, those advising him are only looking at things that benefit themselves only,” he said. “We must be careful with advice that we give to the President so that it does not benefit individuals only because we want his legacy to remain; these things can destroy his legacy after working so hard as minister, survived hangman’s noose and at the end of the day his legacy is destroyed like that,’’ Dube added.
Mnangagwa is now in a quandary. Though he is constitutionalism, those who want him to stay on are using his own words, that he is a listening president, to hang him arguing that if he is a listening president he should stay on because the people have spoken.
But staying own could have disastrous consequences.
Mnangagwa himself said when he was sworn in in November 2017: “For close to two decades now, this country went through many developments. While we cannot change the past, there is a lot we can do in the present and future to give our Nation a different, positive direction.
“As we do so, we should never remain hostages to our past. I thus humbly appeal to all of us that we let bygones be bygones, readily embracing each other in defining a new destiny. The task at hand is that of rebuilding our great country. It principally lies with none but ourselves.
“I implore you all to declare that NEVER AGAIN should the circumstances that have put Zimbabwe in an unfavourable position be allowed to recur or overshadow its prospects. We must work together, you, me, all of us who make up this Nation.”
Pressure is piling on Mnangagwa to stay on, but can he withstand the pressure and stick to the country’s constitution?
Mnangagwa, and the ruling party, also have something to worry about if they have the country at heart. Recent elections in the region have shown that the electorate, and not party lieutenants, has the final say at the end of the day.
The African National Congress of South Africa was forced to go into a government of national unity after failing to win an outright majority in the May 2024 elections. It had been in power for 30 years.
In Botswana the ruling Botswana Democratic Party was kicked out of power last month after 58 years in power.
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