Why Chamisa cannot work with Mnangagwa

Mnangagwa only has to do one thing, win the urban vote. To do that he has to create jobs, hence his mantra “Zimbabwe is open for business”.

Some of Mnangagwa’s staunch supporters say that if everything goes according to plan, ZANU-PF will get more votes in urban areas than from the rural areas which have generally been regarded as the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front’s stronghold in 2023.

All that urban voters want are jobs. The argument about ZANU-PF having been in power for too long does not really arise if Mnangagwa’s administration creates jobs. His performance in the first seven months he was in power proved that Mnangagwa can garner more votes in the urban areas if he turns around the country’s economy.

He won 60 168 votes in Bulawayo against Chamisa’s 144 107 and 202 710 in Harare against Chamisa’s 548 889.

Chamisa is quite aware that the economy is the key to his own survival or demise, but, unfortunately, he has to pray and wish that Mnangagwa does not turn around the economy on his own.  This is unfortunate because economic hardships will not spare his supporters. And there is a limit to how much suffering people can endure.

To prove his seriousness, Mnangagwa roped in an outsider Mthuli Ncube. Ncube who left Zimbabwe unceremoniously after the demise of his bank, Barbican, but went on to rise to become vice-president and chief economist of the African Development Bank has several points to prove.

The first is that he is a good financial manager. He was just a victim of former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono.

He also has to prove to his students at one of the most prestigious universities in Africa, Wits, as well as those at one of the most prestigious universities not only in England but in the world, Oxford, that he knows what he teaches or taught.

But most importantly he wants to go down in history as the man who rescued Zimbabwe, the same mission as that of the person who hired him.

Mnangagwa will therefore not allow politics to derail his plan. This was amply demonstrated when his lieutenants at ZANU-PF raved and ranted that Ncube had not consulted them on the 2 percent tax. Mnangagwa simply endorsed the tax giving a clear indication that Ncube, who is not a member of ZANU-PF, does not have to consult the party but only his principal. If anyone has to consult the party, it is Mnangagwa himself.

The road will be rough, but Mnangagwa’s close associates say he only needs 12 months to get the country on the right path. That path is the end of the road for Chamisa.

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