Enter the Crocodile

Meet Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. Known as “the crocodile,” Mnangagwa is often described as smart, quiet, and cruel. Thought to be 75 years old, though that’s a subject of some controversy, he proved vigorous enough to bring down political titan Robert Mugabe when the aging ruler fired him as vice president on November 6 to clear a succession path for his wife. Mnangagwa says Mrs. Mugabe recently tried to kill him with poisoned ice cream.

Where did Africa’s newest leader come from? To challenge white rule in his country, then known as Rhodesia, he got his military training in Mao’s China and Nasser’s Egypt. He was captured and tortured by Rhodesian authorities. After ten years in prison, he practiced law in Zambia, served as Mugabe’s bodyguard in Mozambique, and then helped lead his country to independence in 1980. In the decade that followed, he led the security services, helping Mugabe spy on the Zimbabwean people. Mnangagwa has been accused at various times of ordering attacks on opposition leaders and civilians. Like Mugabe, he’s variously described as liberator and murderer. His name is associated with atrocities and blood diamonds. For now, he has the support of the men with the guns.

What sort of president will he be? Most likely a smart, quiet, and cruel one. Sadly, he’s unlikely to make the Zimbabwean 20 trillion dollar note I keep on my desk much more valuable than the paperclips sitting next to it. It takes more than ice cream to kill a crocodile, and more than a change of president to mend a badly broken society.

More from GZERO Media

Protesters line the street outside Alligator Alcatraz in Ochopee, Florida, holding signs during a vigil on Aug. 10, 2025.

60: A federal judge gave the White House and the Florida state government 60 days to shut down “Alligator Alcatraz,” a controversial immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades that has become a symbol of US President Donald Trump’s severe immigration policies.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., USA, on August 13, 2025.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump has made the arts a target and a tool, putting museums, cultural institutions, and federally-funded arts programs on the defensive.

A service member of the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fires a 2S22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 20, 2025.
REUTERS/Maksym Kishka
President Donald Trump meets with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron.
LIFEGUARD SHORTAGE!

614: For all the US efforts to end it, the Russia-Ukraine war is showing no signs of slowing down, as Moscow fired 614 drones and other missiles at its neighbor.

Members of the Hargeisa Basketball Girls team wrapped in the Somaliland flags walk on Road Number One during the Independence Day Eve celebrations in Hargeisa, Somaliland, on May 17, 2024.
REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

Last week, US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) became the latest American conservative to voice support for Somaliland, as he publicly urged the Trump administration to recognize it as a country. Doing so would come with benefits and risks.