Burden of proof on Mnangagwa to convince a doubting nation

Emerson Mnangagwa is reportedly a man of few words. Not necessarily shy, but quiet and calculating. The 75-year-old has been blamed for the early 1980s disturbances which saw an estimated 20,000 Ndebele people butchered in the marginalised provinces of Midlands and Matebeleland. Mnangagwa is from the Midlands province, but belongs to the dominant Shona tribe. He has however, remained mum about his role in the atrocities, as opinion swell around his ascendancy to the presidency. Instead, he blamed the army for the disturbances, which saw a North Korean-trained army invading the two provinces and killing people.

He was State security minister soon after Zimbabwe’s Independence in 1980, a dark period for the country, which witnessed the Matebeleland massacres. Mnangagwa is described in some quarters as a ruthless leader in the same mould, if not ahead, as Mugabe.