Echoes of Mugabe as Zimbabwe president entrenches power
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HARARE, June 1, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – In office since the military-led ouster of Robert Mugabe three-and-a-half years ago, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is consolidating his grip on power with moves reminiscent of his predecessor’s style, analysts say.
Tweaks to the constitution and criminalising anti-government speech mark a change from Mugabe’s street-fighting and abductions, but observers see the same motives at work — making political opposition all but impossible.
The president — who arrived in office promising a “new and unfolding democracy” and a departure from Mugabe’s authoritarian rule — is in fact developing “an imperial executive whose power is not adequately checked and balanced,” said Kucaca Phulu, legal affairs chief of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).