PRESIDENTS across the globe have joined the social media revolution.
They post pictures and statements that are designed to draw them close to the people.
However, more often than not, their postings and pictures are well-choreographed.
United States President Donald Trump, for now, takes the cup for being on social media.
He uses social media to reaffirm that he is an alpha and many a time berates other leaders.
Trump is a former television host of reality show The Apprentice.
Trump loves being a star. He loves stealing the limelight.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has also joined the trend.
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His communication and image teams have created some photo-opportunities for him.
Mnangagwa presents his social media scenes as surprise and spontaneous.
Last month, the President had two impromptu visits to Harare’s largest referral hospitals --- Parirenyatwa and Sally Mugabe.
The visits came after Youth minister Tino Machakaire had posted on social media the dilapidated infrastructure at Parirenyatwa, where his relative had been admitted.
The Youth minister ended his post by asking Mnangagwa to do a personal visit if he doubted what he had written.
Machakaire’s post went viral and Zimbabweans debated this, but the main point was the political elites are out of touch with reality.
Images create perceptions. And perceptions are stronger than facts.
Some heads at the Office of the President and Cabinet know this.
They designed a way to show Mnangagwa as both in sync with the reality and he was doing something about things.
Mnangagwa visits to the central hospitals resulted in the proposed plan to have all medical centres have cancer treatment equipment and the immediate refurbishment at Parirenyatwa.
The perception created was Mnangagwa is close to the people.
He understands their suffering and is doing everything within his powers to alleviate that.
Many a times, the President has created these man-made emergencies that the government has to abandon normal procurement processes.
In the euphoria of having pharmaceuticals and refurbished buildings, the citizens forget to ask if these were done in line with the existing laws.
We have noticed from the Auditor-General reports that ministries, departments and agencies have been involved in wasteful expenditure and sometimes unauthorised expenditure.
However, this week the President outdid himself. Mnangagwa attended Wednesday’s question-and-answer session in the National Assembly.
The President posted on X: “Today, I joined proceedings in the National Assembly to follow the Wednesday question-and-answer session. I found the deliberations insightful and affirming of our democratic processes.”
The Speaker Jacob Mudenda assured the House that Mnangagwa was part of the Legislature.
This is a loaded statement that needs to be unpacked.
The President is not a Member of Parliament. The President is not a minister.
The President is the head of the Executive and addresses Parliament, but cannot be questioned by MPs.
Yes, he is part of the Legislature by virtue that the Executive can make laws, albeit second-tier legislation know as statutory instruments.
It should be restated that Parliament has the exclusive domain to make laws (Acts).
It, therefore, follows that Mnangagwa going to the National Assembly on Wednesday was a mere photo opportunity.
He did not address the House. He cannot answer questions. So, what was he doing? Since the November 2017 coup, Mudenda has on several occasions complained that ministers are not attending Parliament on Wednesdays.
The situation has not changed much if one consults the Order Paper.
Some questions have gone for months without being responded to.
Did Mudenda take the moment to remind Mnangagwa that his ministers were skipping Wednesday question time?
Some excitable MPs even compared Mnangagwa to the late former President Robert Mugabe.
They even imagined themselves asking Mnangagwa questions directly.
This will not happen because our laws do not allow it.
This was a photo-op that buried a good story.
On the same day, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube was forced to admit that the cost of Trabablas Interchange was higher than the publicly stated US$88 million.
Emakhandeni-Luveve MP Descent Bajila asked: “I’m not sure if I heard the minister right, that the total cost was US$88 million and then there was US$26 million. Is this US$26 million part of the US$88 million or is it US$88 million plus US$26 million getting us to the total. Those figures are not clear whether they are part or additional?”
Ncube responded: “The US$26 million is in addition, but it was a requirement for accessing the US$88 million that we pay that deposit to access that facility. We think that was a very good arrangement indeed because we have been able to complete the piece of infrastructure. I thank you.”
It’s now out in the open that the Trabablas Interchange full cost was US$114 million.
This is the full debt Zimbabwe will service.
This story was buried by Mnangagwa’s presence in the National Assembly.
I’m struggling to understand why there was no follow-up question after Bajila.
Certainly, some MP should have asked why the minister had lied to Zimbabweans on the cost of Trabablas when he published in the Government Gazette that they borrowed US$88 million.
More importantly, the minister should have been asked when would he table the debt and it conditions to parliament for ratification.
Any opportunity was lost as MPs gawked at Mnangagwa’s well-choreographed presence in the assembly.
While Mnangagwa is creating the right optics from agriculture to roads to hospitals, the big question should be: At what cost?
Despite the billions pumped into the Command Agriculture programme, Zimbabwe still has the least maize yield per hectare in Sadc at about 1,1 tonnes per hectare.
Most of the countryside is barely reachable and hospitals are still empty shells.
This Mnangagwa’s eighth year as President.
Surely, there should be changes in the living standards of the people besides the good pictures and the feel-good stories in the mainstream media.
Let MPs unmask this choreographed democracy.
They should ask more pertinent questions in a consistent manner that exposes the lie we are fed everyday by the good pictures.
