Do we like them?

Do we like Emmerson Mnangagwa?

Our score: 1 out of 10. A long run of documented repression and his own words against LGBTQ+ rights, with only the abolition of the death penalty to set against it.

Mnangagwa has been inside Zimbabwe's power structure for most of its history. He was Minister for State Security in the early 1980s, when the Matabeleland massacres known as Gukurahundi took place. He later became Robert Mugabe's deputy, then took over after the army moved against Mugabe in 2017. Human Rights Watch describes that as a military coup.

Gukurahundi is the stain that never leaves him. Critics have condemned him as the chief architect of the massacres, and he denied it. In a 2016 interview he asked how he could have been the enforcer when the president, defence minister and army commander all outranked him. Researchers cited by Daily Maverick point to Mugabe as the architect and say the Fifth Brigade answered to him.

On the harm check, the record is poor. Asked about gay rights in 2018, he said it was not his duty to campaign for them. He added that the constitution bans same-sex marriage and he must obey it. Reporting also says he told the UN that homosexuality was unlawful in Zimbabwe and that his government rejected European calls to rethink its position.

In March 2024 the US Treasury sanctioned him under its Global Magnitsky program. It said he was involved in corrupt activities, especially gold and diamond smuggling networks, and oversees security services that have violently repressed opponents. Those are Treasury's allegations, not a court finding, and Zimbabwe's government rejects the sanctions.

The recent news is a power grab, plain and simple. ZANU-PF voted in October 2025 to push his term from 2028 to 2030, and a lawyer who helped write the constitution said such an extension needs a referendum. Parliament passed the amendment and he signed it in July 2026, with ZANU-PF arguing no referendum was needed. The new law also makes the president chosen by MPs rather than voters and lets him appoint ten more senators.

There is some good. On 31 December 2024 he signed a law abolishing the death penalty and converting existing death sentences to prison terms. Amnesty called it a historic moment, though it criticised the clause that lets executions return in a state of emergency. That is real, and it is the main thing on the other side of the ledger.