One year after Mugabe’s downfall, anger wins over hope in Zimbabwe

For the first time in nearly four decades, the people of Zimbabwe woke up on the morning of November 22, 2017, in a country that was not ruled by Robert Mugabe. 

It has been a year since then 93-year old President Mugabe who ruled the southern African nation with an iron fist, was forced to step down. 

The end of Mugabe Era

Exactly one year ago, just moments after an impeachment hearing began in parliament, a letter from then-President Mugabe was read out, announcing that Mugabe had voluntarily decided to step down and allow a smooth transition of power. 

In brought to a close an eight-day political crisis, which started with then-vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s sacking by Mugabe in what was widely seen as an attempt to position his wife, Grace Mugabe, as a successor. 

Soon after that, army tanks took over the streets of Harare, along with the thousands of Zimbabweans who demanded Mugabe to resign. 

After a week, the pressure from the army, protesters and the ruling Zanu-PF party ended with Africa’s longest-serving head of state resigning.

As the celebrations spread from parliament into the streets of capital city Harare, Zanu-PF announced Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former freedom fighter who was called “The Crocodile” and Mugabe’s former right-hand man, as the new president. 

The Crocodile and the New Era 

In July this year, millions of Zimbabweans formed long queues outside polling stations in the first election since Mugabe’s departure. Mnangagwa narrowly won in disputed elections. 

Amid allegations of widespread vote rigging, post-election violence broke out and security forces shot at protesters, killing six. 

"We were all there. Young, old, black, white. There was a collective sense of hope that, after the hardships, we had endured as a nation, things were going to change," Zimbabwean businessman Munya Chihota recalled about the protests against Mugabe.

Belina Mlilo, a 24-year-old job-seeker, agreed with Chihota, adding: "We made the mistake of thinking that Mugabe was the only problem."

Cyril Zenda, a Zimbabwean writer told TRT World: “Politically, things have not changed, as the solid infrastructure of repression that the new leader set up when he was doing Mugabe’s bidding, now benefit him.”

Dr Alexander Noyes, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also believes the old political system remains alive in the country. 

“President Emmerson Mnangagwa has pitched himself as a reformer to the international community... but Zimbabwe's repressive laws remain in place, he continues to rely on the military,” Dr. Noyes told TRT World.

Many hoped that Mugabe’s resignation would reinvigorate an economy that has been torn apart due to the sanctions from the Western world. 

Although Mnangagwa pledged to revive the economy, attract foreign investment and create jobs, the government does not even have enough money to provide basic public services; banks are running out of cash and unemployment is estimated at over 90 percent. 

Meanwhile across the country, the price of basic commodities has skyrocketed, resulting in annual inflation hitting 20.85 percent for October, from 5.39 percent in September.

Shortages of everyday essentials such as bread, chicken, cooking oil, and petrol have become a part of daily life as the country runs out of foreign currency to buy imported goods.

“Solutions [to fix economy]  are difficult to get because the new regime is still using the same commandist strategies that only served to make the country a pariah state as far as investors are concerned,” Zenda said. 

Dr Noyes believes that that the international community should play a part in the construction of new Zimbabwe. 

“International players should not bail out a corrupt military-backed government that created massive debt through financial mismanagement for the benefit of a few at the top. Until real progress is observed, international actors should hold the line and maintain pressure on the government,” Noyes observed.

“The ‘new Zimbabwe' looks an awful lot like the old Zimbabwe.”