President Emmerson Mnangagwa is going all out to impress regional leaders ahead of the SADC summit set for August in Harare. From freshly resurfaced roads to lavishly refurbished hotels, the state is working overtime to give Zimbabwe a facelift. Leaders will be hosted either at the towering new Parliament in Mount Hampden or the luxuriously redone Hyatt Regency Harare formerly known as Meikles Hotel. On the surface this seems like a show of hospitality but beneath the polished veneer lies something far more troubling. This is not about regional unity or national pride. It is a desperate bid for political legitimacy from a regime clinging to power after a fraudulent election that SADC itself refused to endorse.
Mnangagwa is not the first autocrat to mask domestic failures with diplomatic theatre. Across the world leaders facing rebellion at home try to buy international applause with borrowed glitter. They roll out red carpets for foreign guests while rolling over the rights and realities of their own citizens. These displays are designed to create the illusion of progress. But illusions do not build nations. They only postpone the truth. In Zimbabwe the truth is painful. Hospitals are understocked. Schools are crumbling. Millions are unemployed. Civil servants cannot feed their families. Yet the regime chooses to pour millions into villas and receptions while the people are left scraping together coins to survive.
This approach to governance is not only tone deaf but dangerous. When governments prioritize image over substance they lose the trust of the very people they claim to serve. Trust once broken is hard to repair. The more the regime spends on optics the wider the chasm grows between rulers and ruled. What starts as frustration can quickly spiral into unrest and chaos. Political legitimacy does not come from freshly painted buildings. It comes from delivering justice protecting freedoms and responding to the needs of the majority.
Mnangagwa’s obsession with external validation is not leadership. It is insecurity disguised as diplomacy. If your house is burning you do not invite neighbors over for tea. You put out the fire. Zimbabwe is burning. And instead of facing the smoke Mnangagwa is busy spraying perfume hoping no one notices. But the citizens do notice. They notice when their local clinic has no medicine while the state builds marble walkways for visiting presidents. They notice when the police silence peaceful protesters while foreign dignitaries are greeted with fanfare. They notice when a country that cannot guarantee clean water somehow finds the funds for a five-star experience for outsiders.
This political strategy is not unique to Zimbabwe. But it is especially reckless in a nation as fragile as ours. The stakes are high. The wounds are deep. And the people are not blind. True leadership does not fear criticism. It faces it. It listens. It responds. If Mnangagwa truly wants to earn respect he should start by fixing what is broken not hiding it behind curtains of gold. He should look inward before looking outward. He should remember that power without accountability is tyranny dressed in ceremony.
As SADC leaders arrive in August they will be welcomed by clean pavements smiling escorts and staged speeches. But behind that mask lies a battered country still waiting for healing. No amount of decoration can disguise the truth. Zimbabwe deserves more than a performance. It deserves a future. And that future will never come from impressing guests. It will come from serving citizens. Let those in power remember that. And let the people never forget.
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