Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president on Friday, marking the final chapter of a political drama that toppled Robert Mugabe after a military takeover.
In his inauguration speech, the hardline politician known as The Crocodile, referred to his predecessor as the ‘Father of the nation’ and urged his countrymen to let bygones be bygones after 37 years of dictatorship in the country.
Mnangagwa, until recently one of Mugabe’s closest allies, took the oath of office at the national sports stadium on the outskirts of Harare to an explosion of cheering from the full-to-capacity crowd.
He promised what he called democratic elections next year as he told the thousands in the stands: ‘We should never remain hostages of our past.’
Among his other pledges, Mnangagwa also vowed to fight poverty and corruption as well as pay compensation to farmers who lost land under the Mugabe regime.
Mugabe, 93, was not present to hear his successor’s praises. He was said to be too tired to attend.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, centre-right, and his wife Auxillia arrive at the presidential inauguration ceremony in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe
Emmerson Mnangagwa raises his fist to the sky as thousands of his supporters watch on from the stands
President elect Emmerson Mnangagwa (centre, left) arrives with his wife Auxilia (centre, right) at the National Sport Stadium in Harare, on November 24, 2017 during the Inauguration ceremony. They walk under a banner which reads, ‘The people have spoken’
People wait for the inauguration ceremony to swear in Zimbabwe’s former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa as president in Harare, Zimbabwe, November 24, 2017
People gather for the presidential inauguration ceremony of Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare, Zimbabwe, today. Zimbabweans are converging on a stadium ahead of the presidential inauguration of Mnangagwa, who will become the country’s second leader since independence from white minority rule in 1980
Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace have been pictured for the first time since the former dictator was granted immunity as part of a resignation deal. In the top row, left to right is Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) Acting Director General Aaron Daniel Tonde Nhpera, Gideon Gono and Father Fidelis Mukonori
The pledges, promises and key statements from Emmerson Mnangagwa’s inaugural speech as Zimbabwe’s President:
- Robert Mugabe is ‘the father of the nation’ and laid foundations for the country
- New government will fight poverty and corruption in Zimbabwe for its citizens
- Elections will be held next year as scheduled and the process will be democratic
- Farmers who lost land under the Mugabe regime will be compensated for losses
- Mnangagwa will reach out for more foreign investment to rebuild the economy
- Re-engage with the outside world but land reform process could not be reversed
- ‘We ask those who have punished us in the past to reconsider,’ Mnangagwa said
Addressing the Zimbabwe’s newly sworn-in President Emmerson Mnangagwa praised outgoing leader Robert Mugabe as ‘the father of the nation’ during his inauguration address on Friday.
This despite news emerging overnight that Mugabe was told by the new leadership team his involvement in the massacring of 20,000 tribespeople would be exposed if he did not volunteer to resign.
‘Let me at this stage pay tribute to one of the, and the only surviving, founding fathers of our nation, comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe,’ Mnangagwa said in front of a crowd of tens of thousands at his inauguration ceremony.
‘Let us all accept and acknowledge his immense contribution to the building of our nation.’
Mnangagwa vowed to tackle corruption synonymous with Mugabe’s long reign, saying that ‘the culture of government must change, and change now’.
He made a range of promises with the aim of reviving a once-prosperous economy that has collapsed amid mismanagement and international sanctions, adding that he will reach out for more foreign investment.
‘In this global world no nation is, can, or need be an island. All foreign investments will be safe in Zimbabwe,’ he said.
The Crocodile insisted it was time to rebuild the nation from the foundations Mugabe had laid down.
After taking the oath Mnangagwa received the chain and sash of office, and took salutes and pledges of allegiance from the country’s military and security chiefs.
Mnangagwa, 75, had said this week that Zimbabweans were witnessing ‘a new and unfolding full democracy’, although critics say he is a hardliner in the ruling ZANU-PF who gained power in a de facto military coup.
He is known as The Crocodile for his ruthlessness and is accused of overseeing ethnic massacres and political violence.
The incoming Zimbabwe leader assured the former president he and his family would be safe in the country when the two men spoke for the first time since Mnangagwa returned home this week.
He arrived at his inauguration at the National Sports Stadium in Harare this morning to a cheering crowd alongside the soon-to-be First Lady of Zimbabwe Auxillia Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa raised his fist in response and the enormous crowd jumped to its feet and erupted with shouting and singing.
Zimbabweans had gathered early ahead of the presidential inauguration of Mnangagwa – the country’s second leader since independence from white minority rule in 1980.
Mugabe succumbed to pressure to quit from the military, the ruling party and massive demonstrations.
And it appears the chaotic week has taken its toll on the former dictator.
Both Mugabe and Mnangagwa came to the agreement that the outgoing leader would not attend today’s event in order for him to rest because he was too tired.
Supporters of Zimbabwe’s incoming president wave Zimbabwean flags from a bus as they arrive at Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party headquarters in Harare
The first picture of Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace emerged yesterday since the former dictator was granted immunity as part of a resignation deal.
Under the agreement drawn up to get the former dictator to stand down, Mugabe’s whole family are understood to have been given assurances of their safety – including his hated wife Gucci Grace.
The pair were pictured inside their Blue Roof mansion in Zimbabwe alongside the aides who helped secure their bumper retirement package.
A government source claimed Mugabe, 93, said he wanted to die in Zimbabwe and had no plans to live in exile, so negotiated a deal which included a pension, holiday and transport allowance, health insurance and security.
The tipping point appears to be Mugabe’s realisation he would be impeached, which prompted him to come to the bargaining table to avoid an ‘undignified’ ousting.
The military parade at the presidential inauguration ceremony of Emmerson Mnangagwa in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe
A member of the military band dances as they wait for Emmerson Mnangagwa’s presidential inauguration ceremony in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, today
Mnangagwa, a former justice and defence minister, was a key Mugabe confidant for decades until they fell out because of the presidential ambitions of Mugabe’s wife, Grace.
Despite his long association with the government, Mnangagwa has promised democracy.
Widely known as The Crocodile, is seen as a smart, ruthless politician, and many question if he will be able to bring the change the country craves.
‘We are witnessing the beginning of a new, unfolding democracy,’ the 75-year-old announced Wednesday upon his return to the country, two weeks after his firing by longtime mentor Robert Mugabe led to the president’s downfall.
Despite the message of inclusion, Zimbabweans noted that Mnangagwa made his first public remarks outside ruling ZANU-PF party headquarters and, switching to the local Shona language, praised the party.
They ask whether Mnangagwa will be adequately independent from ZANU-PF to revive the battered economy and restore democracy with the backing of the opposition and others.
The ruling party has proven it protects its own.
It assured Mugabe he would not be prosecuted if he stepped down, ZANU-PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke said: ‘He is safe, his family is safe and his status as a hero of his country is assured.’
Former Vice President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was dismissed by former President Robert Mugabe, addresses to the crowd in front of Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party headquarters after his returning in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare on November 22
Spectators attend the presidential inauguration ceremony of Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare wearing brightly-coloured costumes and shielding themselves with umbrellas from the morning sun
Mnangagwa’s remarkable rise to power – from being sacked as vice president and fleeing the country to being named Zimbabwe’s next leader – was largely thanks to the military, which put Mugabe under house arrest, and ruling party lawmakers who introduced the impeachment proceedings.
It is widely expected that Mnangagwa will continue to rely on them.
‘Can a crocodile change its scales? Everybody is asking that question. Certainly his first speech was a lost opportunity.
‘He did not speak about the need for an inclusive government,’ said Piers Pigou, southern Africa expert for the International Crisis Group.
‘He has a long past with ZANU-PF and the military and that past may stick to him like chewing gum on a shoe.’
Pigou said more will be known when Mnangagwa announces his new government and policies. ‘It will be difficult for him to escape his history,’ he said. ‘But the door is open.’
Beware The Crocodile: Mnangagwa served for decades as Mugabe’s enforcer and talked himself out of a death sentence he was given for blowing up a train as a guerrilla militant
A Zimbabwean holds up a placard showing Emmerson Mnangagwa’s face and the caption ‘welcome back, our hero’
Emmerson Mnangagwa served for decades as Mugabe’s enforcer and among Zimbabwe’s population, he is more feared than popular.
He now urges the country to come together, to ‘bury our differences and rebuild a new and prosperous Zimbabwe, a country that is tolerant to divergent views.’
For weeks before the political turmoil erupted, Mnangagwa had been publicly demonized by Mugabe and his wife, Grace, who was seeking to succeed her 93-year-old husband in power.
That gave Mnangagwa time to prepare his strategy.
Within days of his firing, his supporters in the military put Mugabe and his wife under house arrest.
When Mugabe refused to resign, a massive demonstration backed by the military brought tens of thousands of people into the streets of the capital, Harare. It was not a spontaneous uprising.
Thousands of professionally produced posters praising Mnangagwa and the military had been printed ahead of time.
Mnangagwa’s links to the military and ruling party go back decades.
He joined the fight against white minority rule in what was then 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 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 Mugabe.
While imprisoned, Mnangagwa studied through correspondence courses.
After his release in 1975 he went to Zambia, where he completed a law degree and started practicing.
Soon he went to newly independent Marxist Mozambique, where he became Mugabe’s assistant and bodyguard.
In 1979, he accompanied Mugabe to the talks in London that led to the birth of Zimbabwe.
‘Our relationship has over the years blossomed beyond that of master and servant to father and son,’ Mnangagwa wrote this month of his relationship with Mugabe.
A Zimbabwe Air Force officer reads a program showing the face of Mnangagwa at the presidential inauguration ceremony of Emmerson Mnangagwa in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, today
A man holds up a placard which reads, ‘Down with corruption’ ahead of the swearing-in event
When Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980, Mnangagwa was appointed minister of security. He directed the merger of the Rhodesian army with Mugabe’s guerrilla forces and the forces of rival nationalist leader Joshua Nkomo.
In 1983, Mugabe launched a brutal campaign against 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.
Mnangagwa was widely blamed for planning the deadly campaign of the army’s North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade. Mnangagwa denies it.
He also is reputed to have amassed a considerable fortune. He was named in a United Nations investigation into exploitation of mineral resources in Congo and has been active in making Harare a significant diamond trading center.
In 2008, Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s agent in an election marked by violence and allegations of vote-rigging, leading him to be placed under US sanctions that continue to this day. He also helped broker the creation of a short-lived coalition government that brought in opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister.
In recent years, Mnangagwa promoted himself as an experienced leader who would bring stability to Zimbabwe.
Despite his bloody past, ‘some people see redeeming features in Mnangagwa,’ said Tichaona Zindoga, political editor of the state-run Herald newspaper. ‘He is seen as business-oriented, which may help him improve the economy.’
However, Zindoga added, ‘politically his ties to ZANU-PF cannot be wished away. And the events of the past two weeks mean that he is ingratiated to the military.’