Manufacturing a personality cult

THE government’s directive compelling local authorities to purchase President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s biography, A Life of Sacrifice, is more than a questionable administrative instruction—it is tantamount to cultivating a cult of personality within public institutions.

In a country where towns and cities struggle to provide clean water, repair roads, manage waste and sustain basic public health services, directing councils to spend scarce public funds on a political biography is both tone-deaf and deeply troubling. Local authorities exist to serve residents, not to bankroll the elevation of political figures.

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