The President has appointed some capable reformers but will
he let them do the job?
Real multi-party politics started raucously in Harare's parliament on 18 July, with both sides breaking into song after the election of former Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa as Speaker of the House. For the first time in parliament's history, there had to be a formal election on 18 July for the speaker's job. Mnangagwa won with 87 votes (which included the 30 members of parliament nominated by President Robert Mugabe) against 57 votes for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's candidate, Mike Mataure. Then the Minister for Rural Resources and Water Development, Joyce Mujuru, started singing loudly in Shona - 'Zimbabwe ndeyeropa baba, Zimbabwe ndeyeropa remadzibaba' ('Zimbabwe's freedom was won through bloodshed'). To this, the MDC benches retorted, still in song: 'ZANU yawora, ZANU yawora' ('ZANU is now rotten').
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