Why Mnangagwa’s gifts to celebrities reveal desperation not popularity

Yesterday, Zimbabweans watched in awe and disbelief as President Emmerson Mnangagwa gifted popular comedian Comic Elder a brand-new Ford Raptor at State House.

To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08

The spectacle was quickly splashed across social media, with photos and videos showing the visibly excited entertainer standing beside the President and his new vehicle.

To the regime’s handlers, this was a moment of triumph — a display of generosity meant to portray a leader in touch with the youth and capable of rewarding talent.

But to any discerning observer, it was nothing more than another desperate attempt by a government that has run out of ideas, goodwill, and credibility, to buy affection through material symbolism rather than tangible reform.

Let us be honest — no amount of luxury cars handed to a few selected comedians or musicians will convince the millions of suffering Zimbabwean youths that their reality has changed.

The President and his allies, especially controversial tenderpreneur like Wicknell Chivayo, appear to believe that the youth can be charmed or distracted by the spectacle of celebrity privilege.

They assume that when a Comic Elder, Kapfupi, or Jah Prayzah receives a car, the rest of Zimbabwe’s unemployed and impoverished youth will suddenly feel represented, consoled, and perhaps even grateful to the very system that has condemned them to destitution.

But this is a grave miscalculation.

The truth is that the majority of Zimbabwe’s young people — over 70 percent of the population — live in despair.

With unemployment soaring above 90 percent, many are forced into survivalist hustles such as street vending, rank touting (mahwindi), illegal artisanal mining (makorokoza), or crossing borders to eke out a living in foreign lands.

Others, overwhelmed by hopelessness, have sunk into drug and substance abuse.

These are not people who can be easily swayed by the gift of a Ford Raptor they know they will never own.

They are fully aware that the flashy generosity on display is financed by the same corrupt networks that have plundered the country’s wealth, collapsed its industries, and reduced them to destitution.

Indeed, when youths see such spectacles, most do not feel admiration — they feel anger and betrayal.

They know the money being used to buy these luxury cars likely originates from looted public funds.

They know that instead of gifting individuals who already have fame and social following, that money could have been used to fix broken schools and hospitals, or to upgrade the squalid living conditions in Mbare, Epworth, and other neglected communities.

They know the truth: these gifts are not acts of benevolence, but bribes dressed up as generosity — propaganda meant to buy the silence and complicity of popular figures whose voices could otherwise amplify public frustration.

Let us not fool ourselves into thinking Zimbabwean youth are naïve.

They see through the charade.

They know that Comic Elder, Kapfupi, Jah Prayzah, DJ Fantan, and others receiving cars or money are not being rewarded for their artistic brilliance, but for their potential political utility.

They are being turned into soft ambassadors for a regime that has lost the moral right to claim leadership over the country’s youth.

They are meant to project an image of a caring President — one who loves the arts, celebrates talent, and listens to the young.

Yet the same President presides over a nation where university graduates sell tomatoes on pavements, where young nurses and teachers earn starvation wages, and where countless dreams have been buried under the rubble of corruption and mismanagement.

If anything, these spectacles expose the depth of the government’s desperation.

When a ruling elite must rely on gifting comedians cars to gain affection, it signals that all genuine avenues of legitimacy have collapsed.

Gone are the days when people supported liberation movements out of conviction or ideology.

What remains now is transactional loyalty — a system where praise and silence are purchased with expensive vehicles and handouts.

The tragedy is that even those receiving the gifts are themselves victims of the same broken system.

That a comedian or musician of national repute cannot even afford a decent car in a normal economy speaks volumes about the state of disempowerment that defines Zimbabwe’s youth.

It shows how creativity and talent, in a healthy economy, could have been self-sustaining — yet here, even the most famous artists must depend on the benevolence of politicians and tenderpreneurs for survival.

So, when President Mnangagwa hands over a Ford Raptor to Comic Elder, what message does this send to the young people of Zimbabwe?

That loyalty, not hard work, pays?

That silence is rewarded while speaking truth to power is punished?

That the only way to succeed is to please the political establishment?

Such gestures only deepen cynicism among the youth, reinforcing the belief that the system is irredeemably corrupt, and that integrity no longer matters in Zimbabwe.

The idea that these symbolic gestures can rehabilitate Mnangagwa’s image or win him lasting youth support is delusional.

The youth are not blind to their suffering.

They know their hunger and joblessness are products of state failure, not bad luck.

They know that real empowerment comes from access to jobs, decent wages, affordable education, and functional infrastructure — not from watching a fellow youth receive a car from the State House steps.

To assume otherwise is to grossly underestimate the intelligence and consciousness of Zimbabwe’s young people.

If the President truly wishes to win the hearts of the youth, he should fix the economy.

He should create an environment where talent thrives without political patronage, where innovation and entrepreneurship are supported by sound policies rather than photo opportunities.

He should ensure that the wealth of the nation benefits the many, not the privileged few.

Until that happens, these gifts will remain symbols of moral decay — acts of desperation by a regime that has lost the pulse of the people it claims to serve.

Ultimately, no Ford Raptor, Mercedes Benz, or mansion can conceal the truth.

Zimbabwe’s youth are hungry, angry, and disillusioned.

They may cheer momentarily at the spectacle of another celebrity’s windfall, but when the lights dim and reality sets in, they return to the same streets, the same vending stalls, and the same hopelessness that defines their daily existence.

Mnangagwa’s problem is not that the youth do not love him enough; it is that he has given them nothing to love.

And until that changes, no number of gifted cars will drive him into their hearts.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/