PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s extensive public relations
campaign to position himself as a reformer and leader of a new dispensation in
Zimbabwe has crumbled like a deck of cards. This is after the disputed outcome
of last week’s elections, disruption of an opposition press conference by
police, brutal killings of at least six people after soldiers opened gunfire on
unarmed civilians and the crackdown on opposition members.
Catapulted into power on the back of a military coup in
November last year, Mnangagwa quickly went all out to sell the message that his
administration was the architect of a new dispensation and that the country was
open for business, a departure from his predecessor Robert Mugabe’s toxic
policies and gross economic mismanagement which left the country isolated.
During his trips to Sadc countries such as Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa,
Botswana and Namibia, Mnangagwa amplified this message. He also took his open for
business gospel further afield, including to the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, in January this year and China.
Mnangagwa dispatched Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo
who went to London as re-engagement efforts intensified. To revamp his image
and reputation as a reformer and new leading light, Mnangagwa also gave
interviews to influential overseas media houses such as the Financial Times,
the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), New York Times and the Wall Street
Journal where he expounded on the narrative of a new dispensation and the
country being open for business which gained him favourable reviews. It paid
dividends. This was demonstrated by his cozy relationship with the United
Kingdom, Russia and China.
As a sign of the vastly improved relationship between
Zimbabwe and the UK, the British government advanced a US$100 million loan
through the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), the UK’s development
finance institution and Standard Chartered Bank to Zimbabwean private companies
to re-equip and increase capacity utilisation. The financial package, the first
direct commercial loan by the UK to Zimbabwe in more than 20 years was seen as
a massive vote of confidence in Mnangagwa who used this development as part of
his campaign message in the lead up to the elections last year. It looked like
the beginning of the injection of the much-needed funding to breathe life into
the country’s comatose economy.
Mnangagwa then bolstered his image further when he invited
the international community to observe the elections, including those who had
previously been banned from doing so by the Mugabe regime. He also preached
peace and tolerance during election campaigns.
However, the PR campaign that had given Mnangagwa a new
look and traction which collapsed spectacularly last week.
The contested outcome of the polls by the Nelson
Chamisa-led MDC Alliance was the first spanner in the works of Mnangagwa’s
well-choreographed publicity campaign. The 50,8% vote he garnered was
contentious and has been rejected outright by the opposition.
The dispute over the polls was worsened by the cold-blooded
killing of civilians in broad daylight by soldiers who had been called in to
quell a violent demonstration over alleged electoral theft on Wednesday last
week. The images of soldiers opening fire on civilians with one of them in a
kneeling position have gone viral worldwide turning the tide against Mnangagwa.
The crackdown that has followed mainly in high density
areas by soldiers mainly targeting opposition leaders from MDC Alliance has
aggravated matters for the septuagenarian leader.
To add insult to injury, police then tried to bar Chamisa
from holding a press conference two days later in full view of foreign
journalists and a world audience before acting information minister Simon Khaya
Moyo was forced to intervene. The promise by Mnangagwa to investigate the army
shootings implies that he was not the one who deployed the soldiers. It remains
unclear who deployed the army. It also gives the impression that he is not in
control as pointed out by political analyst Ibbo Mandaza.
“Zimbabweans who celebrated the coup were short-sighted in
my view,” Mandaza said. “The police had handled them very well and had got the
protestors to tire. There was no confrontation whatsoever between civilians and
the army. In fact, the civilians were running away from the army. This was
cold-blooded murder. I think that maybe Mnangagwa is not in charge.”
The global outrage and condemnation has been swift from
international media and governments alike, and has wrecked Mnangagwa’s
painstaking efforts to rebrand and distinguish himself from ideologues of the
Mugabe era when violence and electoral theft were commonplace.
Foreign journalist from the influential Financial Times
Joseph Cotterill, who was in the country to cover the elections, revealed that
he had been at the receiving end of the chaos.
“On Wednesday (last week) I had a soldier raise his AK at
me and threaten(ed) to shoot, on Friday a riot policeman move(d) to shove me
with his shield,” Cotterill wrote on microblogging site Twitter. He added that
one would have to be “crazy” to come and invest in Zimbabwe.
“Security forces killed at least six opposition protesters,
raided opposition headquarters and broke up a press conference at Harare Hotel
Friday,” the Wall Street Journal wrote in its damning indictment. “Political
intimidation and killings were a hallmark of the Mugabe era, and Mr Mnangagwa,
a former defence minister and spymaster learned his trade well. The elections
process and result show there is no reason for the US or Europe to ease the
diplomatic and financial pressure.”
In a joint local statement on the post elections human rights
situation in Zimbabwe, the European Union delegation, the heads of mission of
EU member states present in Harare and the heads of mission of Canada,
Switzerland and the United States condemned the violence.
“The heads of mission of the EU, Canada, Switzerland and
the United States of America note with grave concern the eruption of violence
and occurrence of serious human rights violations following the peaceful
election of 30 July 2018 ,” they said in a statement.
“These tragic events stand in sharp contrast to the high
hopes and expectations for a peaceful, inclusive, transparent and credible
election in Zimbabwe.”
That the statement was made after Sibusiso Moyo had denied
the crackdown shows that his explanation has found few takers.
The Australian government also joined the chorus of
condemnation.
It remains to be seen whether Mnangagwa, who is perceived
to be the proverbial cat with nine lives, can recover from the wreckage of a
shipwrecked PR campaign at the tail end of his bid for legitimacy. Zimbabwe Independent
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