SINCE coming to power on the back of a military coup, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has overseen several projects in and around the country.
He says he wants to build Zimbabwe and make it an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.
Clearly, the projects he has overseen are there for everyone to see.
There is the New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, then the Museum of Africa Liberation which is under construction in Warren Park, then comes the Mbudzi Interchange in Glen Norah, the construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, as well as the rehabilitation of some of the country’s roads.
It’s not denied that he is finally doing something about the chronic underinvestment in infrastructure development.
Kudos to that but he was also part of the regime that oversaw the collapse of the same in the 37 years of Mugabe’s regime.
But then it raises more questions than answers when the man wants to name everything after himself.
Since assuming power in November 2017, he has named more than 10 streets around the country after him, one of them being Enterprise Road, to assert influence.
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He has used a statutory instrument to rename Mbudzi Interchange to Trabablas Interchange, his nom de guerre during the liberation struggle.
Just a few days ago, Zimbabwe woke up to a new holiday — Munhumutapa Day — which will be commemorated on September 15, his birthday.
In an official announcement, the government formalised the holiday under General Notice 954 of 2024, invoking section 2(1) of the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act [Chapter 10:21].
Citizens were reminded that under section 2(2) of the same law, the President holds the authority to declare public holidays at any time.
Businesses were warned against contravening the Act, as violators face fines, imprisonment of up to six months, or both.
The Mutapa Kingdom, which flourished after the decline of Great Zimbabwe, symbolised African sovereignty and resistance.
Founded by Nyatsimba Mutota in the 15th century, the kingdom controlled vast trade networks and centralised governance.
It doesn’t end there, there is even the two-storey Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Law School under construction in Kwekwe.
Technically, we would not be wrong to assume that Mnangagwa is telling himself that he wants to leave a legacy which will take years to forget.
He wants to erase any other history or legacy that might have been left behind by the late former President Robert Mugabe or even colonial ruler Ian Smith.
Said the late American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer and speaker, Henry Ward Beecher: “There is nothing which vanity does not desecrate.”
Even the late author Edward Counsel saw the wrongs in it: “The vain man is like a painter who continually draws but his own picture.”
There is danger that Mnangagwa is using the law to name everything he can after himself, in the process creating a monster out of himself.
