Zimbabwe’s interim President, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed to introduce changes after he was sworn-in last Friday as Zimbabwe’s new leader. He sought to reassure foreign investors with a pledge to fight poverty and corruption after the resignation of President Mugabe. In his inaugural address, the new president set out a program of dramatic change that promised a stark reversal of many of Mugabe’s signature policies.
Mr. Mnangagwa pledged that his government would compensate white farmers whose land was seized by President Mugabe; that it would protect international investments in the country and re-engage with foreign powers. Elections scheduled for 2018 would continue as planned, he said. “I humbly appeal to all of us that we let bygones be bygones,” he said at the ceremony in the 60,000-seat national stadium, which was packed to capacity. “We must work together — you, me, all of us who make this nation.”
After reciting the oath of office, he was given a ceremonial chain and sash of office flanked by his wife Auxilia, receiving salutes and pledges of allegiance from the country’s military and security chiefs. Military aircraft and helicopters then staged a fly-past. Then there was a 21-gun salute, which marked Mr. Mnangagwa’s transformation from a sacked enemy of the state to president of a nation of 16 million people.
The 93-year-old former president, who ruled Zimbabwe with an iron rod for 37 years, was ousted after the military intervened over his sacking of Mr. Mnangagwa as Vice-President on November 6. Two days later, Mnangagwa fled the country, only to return last Wednesday when he said Zimbabwe was entering an era of “full democracy”.
But critics have warned that Mr. Mnangagwa — whose ruthlessness won him the nickname “The Crocodile” and who had earlier been accused of overseeing violence and ethnic massacres — could prove just as authoritarian as his mentor.
Mugabe, who is in increasingly frail health, had been positioning his wife Grace as his successor but the army chiefs stepped in to halt the plan. Reports said that during talks with Mr. Mugabe a day before he was sworn-in, Mr. Mnangagwa “assured him and his family maximum security and welfare” for their future as private citizens.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, received rapturous applause as he arrived at the packed stadium. Also at the ceremony were Zambian President, Edgar Lungu, and Botswana’s President, Ian Khama, who jointly took a lap of honour to huge cheers from the crowd. Zambian independence leader, Kenneth Kaunda — a 93-year-old who is known as “Africa’s Gandhi” — also received a large cheer.
Britain, the former colonial power, said it had sent a junior minister to the ceremony. Jacob Zuma, president of regional heavyweight South Africa, did not attend as he was said to be hosting a visit by Angola’s new head of state.
The majority of Zimbabweans have only known life under Mr. Mugabe whose reign was characterized by brutality, rigged elections and international isolation. Until his iron grip ended on Tuesday last week with a resignation letter read out in parliament where MPs had gathered to impeach him, he was the world’s oldest head of state.
Zimbabwe’s once-promising economy collapsed under the dictator’s rule, and many people hope that the new helmsman will push through reforms to bring in investments. Reports say that unemployment is over 90 percent in the country. This tends to explain why in his first speech after being announced as the next president, Mr. Mnangagwa promised to provide “jobs, jobs and jobs!” The world is watching.
