Zimbabwe ripe for a new political leader

The Streets Watcher

Dearth in leadership has bred disappointment, disillusion and despair in many Zimbabweans across the political divide.

While many candidates made it to the presidential ballot paper in August 2023, the reality is that besides Emmerson Mnangagwa, the only other viable candidate was Nelson Chamisa, then fronting the Citizens Coalition for Change.

While Chamisa retains an indisputable hold on a significant number of people, it is doubtful that he can command a critical mass of voters in 2028, if he decides to run.

A visit to his social media walls shows a trend of registered voters resident in the country expressing their conviction that Chamisa is no beacon of hope.

His inspirational posts about a bright future are met with sarcastic observations that describing a vision is the easy part, what is lacking is enunciation of a clear strategy to get there.

These are people who waited for endless hours to vote after listening to Chamisa repeatedly saying he had come up with a fool proof anti-rigging strategy had nothing.

They waited with bated breath when Chamisa dismissed the results and assured them that election would not be “stolen”.

There was even a hint that he would go for another V11 court drama with leaked images of heaps of suits pending filing.

Chamisa went on to demonstrate unforgivable ignorance in basic politics with his “SADC is coming” mantra.

Clearly the man had not bothered to understand how SADC works and had rested all his hopes in an equally naive Hakainde Hichilema.

Chamisa went on to be outwitted by Tshabangu, exposing the weaknesses of his “infallible pope” approach to leadership.

So Chamisa is now reduced to mere social media religious zealotry, inciting erstwhile followers to tell him to take it to a pulpit and leave the political playfield to bona fide politicians.

While there has been some much ado about opposition figures crossing the floor, post August 2023, majority of the disgruntled former Chamisa followers are not likely to switch allegiance to Zanu-PF.

Incumbent president Emmerson Mnangagwa has to go down in history as the man who squandered a lot of goodwill both home and abroad.

When he came into power in November 2017, ED had a euphoric crowd that was jubilant after finally having shaken off the shackles of Robert Mugabe’s 47 year rule.

Many people were willing to give him a chance and not really concerned with party allegiance.

While ED took over a dead economy and was bound to disappoint the ordinary person in the stabilisation period, there was a significant constituency that was willing to heed his call for austerity as a way of setting the stage for prosperity.

ED has managed to achieve a considerable level of success on the basic economy.

From a time when workers had no idea if they would actually get paid, Government is now more financially stable and can pay the civil service salary bill comfortably.

The mining, agriculture and manufacturing sectors have seen real growth. Exports have soared and the trade deficit has fallen.

Infrastructure development including roads rehabilitation, airport upgrades, dam construction and improvement of power generation facilities are notable achievements.

But conversely this is not reflected in the ordinary citizen’s perception. People are adamant that things are deteriorating with no end in sight to economic woes.

While Cyclone Idai, Covid-19 lockdowns, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the current El Nino drought are some of the factors that have affected the economy outside government agency, there are issues that most people feel that ED could have done better on.

Local currency stability has been the biggest weakness. Devaluation and hyperinflation appear to be the unwanted guest who will just not depart.

Corruption has also grown into an unstoppable cancer spreading its noxious tentacles into every facet of life.

Political interference in high profile corruption and looting cases has left ordinary Zimbabweans bitter.

To cement the coffin is the foolhardy 2030 drive. ED has expressly stated that he is not interested in playing around with the Constitution.

But his dismissal of the call for him to remain in power has not been convincing.

The 2030 call appears to be gathering momentum with key figures publicly stating their allegiance and apparently intimidating any would naysayers into terrified silence.

But behind the scenes only those who are directly benefitting from ED’s rule are in favour. Mutterings are muted, but audible.

The majority of the unwashed masses are not prepared for another leader personalising the party and the country into a family venture.

Which creates another ripe feeding ground for a new political leader to feed off the disenchantment brewing in Zanu-PF.

But will such a leader rise?

Can Zimbabwe see a leader who can command the respect of the security forces, charm the masses with charisma and convince the pragmatists that they have real answers?

Such a leader would have to get the youths to register as voters then turn up on Election Day.

While many are expressing their ambitions and touting themselves as that leader, at the moment no one is standing out head and shoulders above the rest.