13/11/2025
The Dangote Distraction: Mliswa’s Economics of Constitutional Vandalism:
By Reason Wafawarova
Temba Mliswa has always had an uncanny ability to find sunlight in the middle of a political thunderstorm. But this week, the self-anointed social commentator — now Sabhuku (Village Head) of rural Shurugwi after losing his parliamentary seat in 2023 — outdid himself. From the quiet hills of Shurugwi, Sabhuku Mliswa has discovered a “businessman” in President Mnangagwa, and in so doing, apparently stumbled upon a justification for shredding the national constitution.
In a social media sermon, the former legislator found salvation not in good governance or the rule of law, but in a photo-op — the President and Aliko Dangote shaking hands over what was billed as a major investment deal. According to Sabhuku Mliswa, this handshake was so powerful, so transformative, that it now qualifies as an argument for extending Mnangagwa’s rule to 2030. “Even 2030 becomes palatable when we have results,” he wrote — as though constitutionalism were a restaurant menu where citizens could order stability à la carte.
Let’s unpack this extraordinary gospel of convenience — a doctrine where democracy is suspended in the name of “results,” and where economic transactions are dressed up as moral licenses for political vandalism.
The Economics of Fool’s Gold
Zimbabwe has had a long romance with the illusion of mega-deals. From Command Agriculture to Russian platinum mirages, and now to Dangote’s supposed billions, the script is always the same: a photo opportunity, a press release, and a carefully choreographed performance of prosperity. What follows — inevitably — is silence, confusion, and a vanished promise.
This is Dangote's second coming. His first "mega deal" during the Mugabe era was twice bigger in value, and no single bag of fertilizer materialized after all the media spectacle and fanfare.
Sabhuku Mliswa’s argument that this particular deal justifies constitutional suspension betrays a tragic misunderstanding of both economics and governance. Real investment flows not from autocratic continuity but from predictable institutions. Investors, contrary to populist myth, are not romantically attached to presidents — they are loyal to systems that guarantee contracts, rule of law, and policy stability. The idea that Dangote’s cheque book depends on Mnangagwa’s overstayed welcome is as laughable as it is dangerous.
The “Unfinished Business” Fallacy
Mliswa’s justification rests on a seductive cliché — that Mnangagwa must “finish what he started.” But if “unfinished business” were a legitimate reason to postpone elections, no president anywhere would ever leave office. Every government in human history leaves behind incomplete work — from unbuilt roads to half-fixed economies. That is precisely why democracy exists: to allow others to continue what remains undone.
To argue otherwise is to replace accountability with entitlement — to crown presidents as permanent project managers of national destiny. It is an absurd proposition, and one that even history’s most shameless autocrats have used to clothe their ambitions. Mugabe too once spoke of “continuity.” So did Museveni, Kagame, and Nkurunziza. In every case, the melody was the same — and the chorus was always chaos.
Dollar Diplomacy and the Art of Political Capture
Behind Sabhuku Mliswa’s sermon on stability lies a far more sinister architecture — the deliberate monetisation of loyalty. Mnangagwa’s regime has deployed an estimated quarter of a billion U.S. dollars to buy silence, compliance, and praise. Opposition MPs have been quietly absorbed into the ZANU-PF bloodstream through inducements; judges and journalists have been paid to forget their consciences; influencers, musicians, and civic activists have discovered that patriotism now comes with a price tag.
Even the good Sabhuku himself, according to insiders, has been the beneficiary of a generous $300,000 “consulting fee” — a modest reward for his new role as the barking sentinel against the Chiwenga threat in the term-extension saga. It’s a familiar script: Mnangagwa buys friends to fight his enemies, and when those enemies fall, he buys their replacements too. In this marketplace of loyalty, politics is not about conviction but conversion — at the right price.
The Trojan Horse of “Stability”
Stability has become the regime’s favourite slogan — the velvet curtain behind which tyranny changes costume. But stability that depends on silencing dissent and rewriting constitutions is not stability; it is stagnation with better PR. The argument that Zimbabwe cannot afford another political transition is as hollow as it is hypocritical.
If leadership change causes instability, then perhaps the problem is not change itself but the way power is hoarded, abused, and personalised. The same government that cannot manage a peaceful transfer of power after 43 years in office has the audacity to claim that democracy is too dange
