JUSTICE MALALA: The hypocrisy of Emmerson Mnangagwa
We like a strong man in power down here in the Southern African region, don’t we? It’s enough to make one seek comfort in an oasis of calm
I do love politicians. Strue’s Bob I do, even though I tend to criticise them a lot. Maybe I am just struck by a sense of wonder at their chutzpah. How do they manage to speak with forked tongue so often? Last week Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he would set up a commission to investigate the killing of six opposition supporters who, on hearing that Mnangagwa’s Zanu-PF party had won the elections, had protested on the streets of Harare. Zanu-PF is the party of Robert Mugabe, he who stayed in power for 37 years before being unseated by the army and Mnangagwa last year. Mnangagwa said not a single word about the fact that his army had used live ammunition against protesters who had stopped and prayed beforehand — or that some of those who died were allegedly shot in the back. That’s crowd control, Zim-style: just shoot to kill. As if that’s not hypocritical enough, he declared: "With the eyes of the world on us we delivered a free, fair and credible election." That’s rich....
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