Thursday, April 11, 2025
Mnangagwa’s Wardrobe: A Small Scarf, A Big Problem for Africa’s Development Agenda
By Farai D Hove | ZimEye | Analysis | At the just-concluded 11th Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-11), held in Kampala, Uganda, the message from President Yoweri Museveni was powerful: Africa must own its developmental agenda. The continent, he said, must think, act, and dress for progress—though he did not say the last part explicitly. Someone else in the room did that, though quite unintentionally.
In a group photograph that has since made the rounds across social media and diplomatic backchannels, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa appears front and centre—not for his leadership, but for his unmistakably jarring outfit. Among a sea of delegates in diplomatic blues, modest greys, and protocol blacks, Mnangagwa’s outfit—accentuated by his trademark rainbow scarf—delivered an unmissable dose of visual chaos.
And therein lies the problem.
Fashion, especially in diplomacy, is never neutral. It communicates intent, stability, seriousness—or the lack thereof. In a forum dedicated to “driving job creation and economic growth through sustainable, inclusive, science and evidence-based solutions,” Mnangagwa’s kaleidoscopic presentation was a visual contradiction.
It is no small irony that a leader who presides over a collapsing economy, riddled with policy inconsistencies and structural disarray, should choose to dress in a way that mirrors that very dysfunction. Visual disorder, in this context, is not just a matter of taste—it is a symptom of something deeper.
The human mind, which lies at the core of every economy, is motivated by order. Economic productivity begins not with infrastructure, nor with investment, but with cognitive clarity. The more mentally energised people are to produce, the stronger a country’s GDP per capita. Leadership, therefore, must inspire coherence—visually, linguistically, and ideologically. And yet, what Mnangagwa brought to the ARFSD was the antithesis: a colour bomb at a time when Africa desperately needs quiet focus.
President Museveni, in his speech, was clear-eyed about the dangers of dependency and the need for strategic clarity in Africa’s development. He traced Uganda’s journey from a barter-based pre-colonial economy to a fragile modernity built on the “3Cs and 3Ts” (Cotton, Coffee, Copper; Tobacco, Tea, and Tourism), noting the importance of value addition and internal agency. The underlying principle? Development begins in the mind.
If Africa’s GDP is a sum of the mental productivity of its citizens, then the symbols that surround and inspire them—leaders, policies, and yes, appearances—must be curated with precision. Mnangagwa’s wardrobe choice, no matter how innocuous it may seem, eroded the seriousness of the forum. It was an aesthetic distraction in a space that demanded unity of vision and message.
We must ask: what message does a leader send when he arrives at a high-level economic forum dressed like a walking contradiction? What does it say to young Africans fighting to be taken seriously in a competitive global economy? And what hope can citizens have when even the smallest signals of national order—like dressing appropriately—are abandoned at the top?
As Africa defines its future on its own terms, it must also define its symbols. Leaders must embody the order, clarity, and seriousness they expect from their economies. That begins with showing up—not just on time, but in tune.