ZIMBABWE’S First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa and her sons must stop “abusing power” by representing government at crucial international meetings, leading analysts said this week.
They called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa to bring order into his family.
The First Lady and her sons are all not government officials, but they have been spotted in important closed-door state events alongside ministers and top civil servants.
The analysts spoke as Auxillia triggered a fresh wave of national anger after flying in a private jet to Belarus in Eastern Europe, this week with her sons in tow.
Reports claimed government business was among topics discussed during the meetings.
Zimbabweans were worried that in a country where millions barely survive, the politically connected few, including members of the first family, were globe-trotting on expensive private jets.
The Gulfstream G550 jetliner which the first family used on the trip to Belarus costs an average rental of around US$10 900 per hour, according to reports.
In the past year, Mnangagwa’s family has triggered outrage, as the nation seeks answers to many questions over their role in government.
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Many have been worried that First Lady Auxillia and her sons have been extending their influence into territory meant for senior public servants and ministers.
In this week’s trip the First Lady took along with her sons Collin and Sean in a trip that saw them meet President Aleksander Lukashenko.
The backlash has been strong.
Social media platforms have been overwhelmed by angry Zimbabweans expressing outrage over the First Family’s lack of concern about the plight of other citizens.
First ladies do not hold official government positions under Zimbabwean law.
It has been unclear under what arrangement Auxillia has been conducting business on behalf of the state.
“We had a wonderful meeting with Mr President,” the First Lady told journalists following her meeting with Lukashenko.
“There were no closed topics between us. I felt absolutely at home. We discussed absolutely everything. I can see now that our co-operation will move forward. He has one important thing that we have, too. He is able and willing to work hard,” she added.
During her expensive trips, Auxillia usually travels with an army of State media journalists.
But this week, they were left behind.
Analysts told the Zimbabwe Independent that this made the trip more suspicious.
Former Zanu PF national youth political commissar Godfrey Tsenengamu, now a fierce critic, blasted the first family.
He said the equally extravagant former First Lady Grace Mugabe was even more considerate.
“The mother and her children strike State deals and no one has a government position,” Tsenengamu wrote on his Facebook account. “Grace Mugabe was better. She never got to the(se) levels. (Amai nevana vavo vachipinda madhiri enyika (mother and sons striking deals for Zimbabwe). Pakati pavo vese apo hapana kana ane chidanho muhurumende (they are all not in government). Grace aipengereka hake, but haana kumbosvika apa. (Grace was bad news, but she did not get to these levels). In the whole Zanu PF party no one has the bravado to stand up to this.”
This was not the first time that Mnangagwa’s wife and children have overstepped their roles.
Early this year deputy chief secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet George Charamba was forced to defend them after Mnangagwa’s son, Emmerson Jr was spotted at a high-level official meeting at State House.
The meeting also involved Lukashenko, who was on a state visit.
In one of the closed-door meetings, Emmerson Jr was caught on camera clad in his father’s trademark multi-coloured scarf, seated among Zimbabwean and Belarusian ministers.
The following day, he also hogged the limelight after he was seen with the Lukashenko delegation during their tour of the National Heroes’ Acre in Harare.
But it was his presence at State House engagements that courted public ire.
Many said he could have attended to represent family interests.
Questions were also raised after report claimed the First Lady represented government interests during a recent event in Moscow, Russia.
Efforts to get a comment from the Office of the President were fruitless.
But political analyst Effe Ncube said members of the first family must understand that there was a clear distinction between government and family interests.
“The biggest problem facing this country is the conflation of the state and the ruling party and the conflation of government business with private family interests,” Ncube told the Independent.
“Through this unconstitutional arrangement, the state has become a servant and agent of the ruling party. Instead of the ruling party working for the state, the state is now working for the ruling party. Zanu PF does not even bother to pay licenses for its vehicles because it sees itself as being above the law and superior to the state,” Ncube added. “Members of the first family are not lawfully entitled to act on behalf of the state in and outside the country. Anything to the contrary is a complete abuse of power.”
Another analyst, Eldred Masunungure said there were elements of abuse of power in the way the First Family was conducting itself.
“This means there is little to no separation between the state interests and family interests. It is a product of the monarchical tendency in African politics and indeed in developing societies where there is little distinction between the state or public arena and the ruling family,” Masunungure said. “It is a problematic scenario that is not likely to dissipate in the short to medium term unless there are robust institutional rules that delineate the two boundaries and ensure that the boundaries are respected.”
