Emmerson Mnangagwa

Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, born in 1942 in Zvishavane, is a long-standing figure in Zimbabwean politics whose career spans the liberation war against Rhodesian rule, decades of senior cabinet posts under Robert Mugabe, and the presidency itself. Nicknamed "the Crocodile" (Ngwena), a moniker drawn from his guerrilla-era unit, he trained in China and Egypt in the 1960s and was imprisoned in Rhodesia before independence in 1980.

Under Mugabe he held a sequence of powerful portfolios, including Minister of State Security (1980–1988), Minister of Justice, Speaker of Parliament (2000–2005), Minister of Defence, and finally Vice-President from December 2014. His tenure as security minister coincided with the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland in the early 1980s carried out by the Fifth Brigade — events for which he has faced persistent allegations of complicity, which he denies.

In November 2017, after Mugabe dismissed him as vice-president, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces under General Constantino Chiwenga launched Operation Restore Legacy, placing Mugabe under house arrest. Mugabe resigned on 21 November 2017, and Mnangagwa was sworn in as president on 24 November 2017. He won the July 2018 general election against Nelson Chamisa of the MDC Alliance — a result the opposition disputed and that was followed by a deadly army crackdown in Harare on 1 August 2018. He was re-elected in August 2023 in a vote that observer missions from the EU, the Commonwealth, and SADC criticised as falling short of regional and international standards.

His government has pursued a "Zimbabwe is Open for Business" agenda and sought re-engagement with the West, but US and UK targeted sanctions on individuals linked to his administration have remained in place, and the economy has continued to grapple with hyperinflation and currency instability, including the 2024 launch of the gold-backed ZiG.