Mnangagwa was in South Africa on Tuesday for a conference discussing regional support for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a region of Morocco that wants independence. It\u2019s the third time in the past week he\u2019s traveled outside Zimbabwe, where flooding caused by Cyclone Idai killed at least 179 people since March 16. He\u2019s hired a private jet for some of the trips, according to the Harare-based Standard newspaper.<\/p>\n
Four months ago, his government unveiled a budget that set out plans to slash government spending to rein in a deficit that\u2019s ballooned to 11.7 percent of gross domestic product and an inflation rate that surged to 59.4 percent \u2014 the highest in a decade. The state needs funds to fix crumbling infrastructure like power and water plants, and bridges that fell into disrepair under former President Robert Mugabe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile he\u2019s up there in a jet that costs, what, $75,000 an hour, I\u2019m down here carrying containers of water home in my rickety car fueled by gasoline that costs over $3 a liter on broken roads because nothing but noise comes out of the faucets in my house,\u201d said Fred Mabwe, a resident of Kuwadzana, a poor suburb in the capital, Harare. \u201cI\u2019m sure the water in his hired jet is just fine, but ours isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Splashing Cash\u2019
\nHis trips have become a target for criticism on social media, including from former ministers such as Jonathan Moyo, who is now in exile.<\/p>\n
Since coming to power in November 2017, Mnangagwa has been on at least 30 foreign trips, according to the ZimLive news website. Calls to George Charamba, his spokesman, didn\u2019t connect when Bloomberg sought comment.
\nExpensive Diplomacy
\nIn February, Charamba said Mnangagwa is determined to ensure Zimbabwe re-engages with the world after two decades of isolation under Mugabe\u2019s autocratic rule. \u201cDiplomacy doesn\u2019t come cheap,\u201d he was quoted as saying by the state-owned Herald newspaper last month.<\/p>\n
Among the nations Mnangagwa has visited are Russia, the U.S., Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n
The trips are \u201cunacceptable\u201d at a time when ordinary Zimbabweans are raising money to help victims of the cyclone, said David Coltart, a human-rights lawyer and opposition official based in the southern Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo.<\/p>\n
Mnangagwa\u2019s travel has also been panned by opposition lawmaker Tendai Biti, who asked in a March 17 Tweet how Mnangagwa could leave the country at a time when people are mourning victims of the cyclone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho does that?,\u201d Biti, a former finance minister, said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mnangagwa was in South Africa on Tuesday for a conference discussing regional support for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a region of Morocco that wants independence. It\u2019s the third time in the past week he\u2019s traveled outside Zimbabwe, where flooding caused by Cyclone Idai killed at least 179 people since March 16. He\u2019s hired a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[224,91,31,380,149],"class_list":["post-6484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-council","tag-harare","tag-mnangagwa","tag-moyo","tag-president"],"yoast_head":"\n