Emmerson Mnangagwa set to land in Zimbabwe today to 'take control' after Robert Mugabe's resignation

Former vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to take control over the next 48 hours
AP
Tom Powell22 November 2017

Zimbabwe's former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa is set to return to the country today amid reports he will be sworn in as the new leader within 48 hours.

Mr Mnangagwa was expected to land in Zimbabwe at 1130 GMT, according to an official from the ruling Zanu-PF party.

Nicknamed the ‘crocodile’, he fled the country earlier this month in fear of his safety after being sacked as vice president.

Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe's president on Tuesday, a week after the army took control of Harare and placed him under house arrest.

Mr Mnangagwa served for decades as Mr Mugabe's enforcer - a role that gave him a reputation for being astute, ruthless and effective at manipulating the levers of power.

Among the population, he is more feared than popular, but he has strategically fostered a loyal support base within the military and security forces.

A leading government figure since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, he became vice president in 2014 and is so widely known as the "Crocodile" that his supporters are called Team Lacoste, after the brand's crocodile logo.

The 75-year-old is "smart and skillful, but will he be a panacea for Zimbabwe's problems? Will he bring good governance and economic management? We'll have to watch this space," said Piers Pigou, southern Africa expert for the International Crisis Group.

Mr Mugabe unwittingly set in motion the events that led to his own downfall, firing his vice president on November 6. Mr Mnangagwa fled the country to avoid arrest while issuing a statement saying he would return to lead Zimbabwe.

"Let us bury our differences and rebuild a new and prosperous Zimbabwe, a country that is tolerant to divergent views, a country that respects opinions of others, a country that does not isolate itself from the rest of the world because of one stubborn individual who believes he is entitled to rule this country until death," he said in the November 8 statement.

He has not been seen in public. But shortly after Mr Mugabe's resignation was announced, ruling party chief whip Lovemore Matuke said he would take over as the country's leader within 48 hours, adding Mr Mnangagwa "is not far from here".

Celebrations in Zimbabwe following Robert Mugabe's resignation

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For weeks, Mr Mnangagwa had been publicly demonised by Mr Mugabe and his wife, Grace, so he had time to prepare his strategy. Within days of the vice president's dismissal, his supporters in the military put Mr Mugabe and his wife under house arrest.

When Mr Mugabe refused to resign, a massive demonstration on Saturday brought thousands of people into the streets of the capital, Harare. It was not a spontaneous uprising. Thousands of professionally produced posters praising Mr Mnangagwa and the military had been printed ahead of time.

"It was not a last-minute operation," Mr Pigou said. "The demonstration was orchestrated."

At the same time, Mr Mnangagwa's allies in the ruling ZANU-PF party lobbied for the removal of Mr Mugabe as the party leader. At a Central Committee meeting Sunday, Mr Mnangagwa was voted in as the new leader of the party, which had been led by Mr Mugabe since 1977.

Mnangagwa fled the country to avoid arrest after he was sacked as vice president
EPA

In an interview with the Associated Press years ago, Mr Mnangagwa was terse and stone-faced, backing up his reputation for saying little but acting decisively. Party insiders say that he can be charming and has friends of all colours.

Mr Mnangagwa joined the fight against white minority rule in Rhodesia while still a teen in the 1960s. In 1963, he received military training in Egypt and China. As one of the earliest guerrilla fighters against Ian Smith's Rhodesian regime, he was captured, tortured and convicted of blowing up a locomotive in 1965.

Sentenced to death by hanging, he was found to be under 21, and his punishment was commuted to 10 years in prison. He was jailed with other prominent nationalists including Mr Mugabe.

While imprisoned, Mr Mnangagwa studied through a correspondence school. After his release in 1975, he went to Zambia, where he completed a law degree and started practising. Soon he went to newly independent Marxist Mozambique, where he became Mr Mugabe's assistant and bodyguard. In 1979, he accompanied Mr Mugabe to the Lancaster House talks in London that led to the end of Rhodesia and the birth of Zimbabwe.

"Our relationship has over the years blossomed beyond that of master and servant to father and son," Mr Mnangagwa wrote this month of his relationship with Mr Mugabe.

When Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980, Mr Mnangagwa was appointed minister of security. He directed the merger of the Rhodesian army with Mr Mugabe's guerrilla forces and the forces of rival nationalist leader Joshua Nkomo. Ever since, he has kept close ties with the military and security forces.

In 1983, Mr Mugabe launched a brutal campaign against Mr Nkomo's supporters that became known as the Matabeleland massacres for the deaths of 10,000 to 20,000 Ndebele people in Zimbabwe's southern provinces.

Mr Mnangagwa was widely blamed for planning the campaign of the army's North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade on their deadly mission into the Matabeleland provinces. Mr Mnangagwa denies this.

He also is reputed to have amassed a considerable fortune and was named in a United Nations investigation into exploitation of mineral resources in Congo. He has also been active in making Harare a significant diamond trading centre.

In 2008, he was Mr Mugabe's election agent in balloting that was marked by violence and allegations of vote-rigging. He also helped broker the creation of a coalition government that brought in opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister.

In recent years, Mr Mnangagwa has promoted himself as an experienced leader who will bring stability to Zimbabwe. But his promises to return Zimbabwe to democracy and prosperity are viewed with scepticism by many experts.

"He has successfully managed a palace coup that leaves ZANU-PF and the military in charge. He's been Mugabe's bag man for decades," said Zimbabwean author and commentator Peter Godwin. "I have low expectations about what he will achieve as president. I hope I will be proved wrong."

Mr Godwin, who has followed Mr Mnangagwa for years, said he has little of Mr Mugabe's charisma or talent for public speaking.

Todd Moss, Africa expert for the Centre for Global Development, also expressed reservations.

"Despite his claims to be a business-friendly reformer, Zimbabweans know Mnangagwa is the architect of the Matabeland massacres and that he abetted Mugabe's looting of the country," Mr Moss said. "Mnangagwa is part of its sad past, not its future."

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