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By Noah Mangwarara.

Harare, Zimbabwe. (News of The South ( –
After the week long wait, the bar has been set – very lowly though. An opportunity has been lost. People’s hopes have been shattered. The only difference between this cabinet and the previous ones is that Mugabe is no longer there and the G40 cabal loyal to Mugabe has been replaced by Mnangagwa’s loyalists.

The President chose to gratify those who fought his war – the army, the war veterans and of-course the Lacoste faction; Chinamasa’s word of a Zanu (PF) only affair has been authenticated despite him trying to explain otherwise in the last few days. He chose the Zanu (PF) trusted and failed cadres. It’s back to square one as they say.

Maybe this is what the nation was celebrating for not so long ago when the former president resigned and when the Saviour Crocodile came back from exile to take over the high office. At least the old president is gone but the old guard and failures is here for us to live with. The speeches were great, hope re-ignited, unity becoming the talk of town and every other positive expectation for a country that has been battered and buttressed for so long. With the new appointments however, the one week long excitement can just be likened to a political orgasm, it came, the nation was hyper excited and its gone, all but too soon. Anything new in sight – not at the moment, even though one wouldn’t want to be a prophet of doom; realistically however it’s the same coin that has been turned the other way round.  

The new cabinet is not a good indicator of progress at all. An opportunity to bring radical change and a shift in productivity has been squandered. The talk about destroying corruption that resonated through the terraces of National Sports Stadium on the day of the inauguration appears to have been all rhetoric after all. One wonders how the war against corruption is ever going to be won when the very people who presided over the worst corrupt practices are still at the helm. The very policies that we have been fighting against will be protected probably more aggressively considering that the cabinet is principally an Army Cabinet; what, with the appointment of the former army generals who fought tirelessly to remove the former president. The army surely deserved their share of the cabinet cake – at the expense of the economy unfortunately.

Probably the nation was expecting too much from the new president. The man has walked as one of Mugabe’s most loyal sons for more than half a century; the very fiber that was in the master is truly the one that makes the Crocodile. Pressure was written all over with an urgent decision required between two options, either to reward loyalty or to go for national productivity. The Zanu (PF) rulebook always points to one side – reward those who assisted in your rise to power and those who will guarantee you support in the next elections. The African electorate is not driven or influenced by ideas after all – they only respond to basic bread and butter issues. Production was indeed no match to allegiance – the Lacoste is safely on the driver’s seat; and who said factionalism was going to end with the falling of Robert Mugabe? It appears more is yet to come.

The new cabinet is simply a replacement of the G40 kingpins who fell on the wayside alongside the former president. The bloated nature of the last cabinet is still clearly visible marking no reduction in the drain to the fiscus that is posed by such a huge mass at the top. It appears the president is running under the mistaken notion that a bigger cabinet is better and shows that he is more powerful. The truth however is that a bigger cabinet means many loafers will go alongside the wind; it means increased corruption and above all, it means reduced productivity. If ever this economy is to be saved from the pit it is in, one option is to remove more than half of those men and women who have been appointed. The Chinese Cabinet is only comprised of 22 Cabinet ministers but that country has more than a billion people. I thought the new movement was authored and implemented from the Far East; wasn’t it logical to also implement cost saving strategies in the same order?

The same deadwood has been recycled – same old faces. Some would talk of new wine in old bottles but this one appears to be old wine in old bottles. The old wine has merely been emptied from the old bottles and replaced by equally old wine from another old bottle. What we have before us is not different from the last cabinet reshuffle under Robert Mugabe. The only exception is that the current one is dominated by Lacoste. One might even want to call it a Boozers Cabinet, not worth to be anywhere closer to the Super League.

In the education system, they grade you on the basis of A to U; so far it’s (U) ungraded in my opinion. This thinking is based on the fact that we have seen these very people being applauded many times before but nothing tangible ever came from their actions. The same clueless and corrupt faces have bounced back probably to prove us wrong this time around. It is my humble contribution that it is more difficult to change a culture and mode of doing things under an old guard than it is with a totally new set of individuals. As things stand presently, real change might be a pipedream. The crocodile has bitten its own tail, its demise might come faster than what took its predecessor. Presidency should never be the source of employment for friends and loyalists Mr. President.

So near, yet so far. A leopard never changes its spots no matter how much rain pours on its skin. It’s a Zanu (PF) thing after all. This is quite disappointing though; anyway – let’s wait and see. Probably it’s time to adopt the Biblical Gamaliel’s attitude that if this thing is the rightful thing for the country then indeed time will tell. On the other end, if it’s not in the best interests of the country, then again time will tell. Who are we to judge? Even the Holy Book says “Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.

My conclusion is that breaking with the past is never an easy thing. It’s always easier to go by the grain. Well tried Mr. President but you might need to come for repeat classes next year unless you are prepared to bribe the lecturers to get a good grade. Otherwise “The voice of the people is the voice of God” but the voice of the people can easily be silenced by those who have the power.

Noah Mangwarara is a Leadership Expert & Motivational Speaker who has authored a number of inspirational and leadership books.

 https://youtu.be/LI8tYsWxGYI