By Cde Nhamo Taneta

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is outpacing his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, in one particular discipline, naming buildings, roads, and projects after himself. 

In less than eight years of his reign, Mnangagwa’s name now adorns almost every government initiative undertaken during his tenure.

Well True Patriots, it doesn’t stop there. 

Beyond new developments, streets across Zimbabwe are being rechristened in his honor. 

What Mugabe accomplished in 37 years of rule pales in comparison to the lightning pace at which Ruka Chivende—his son and political heir—has been leaving the family name stamped on the national map.

Just this past week, President Mnangagwa unveiled the Midlands State University Law School in Kwekwe as the Emmerson D. Mnangagwa School of Law.

 Built with public funds and immediately named after its chief patron, this is now standard practice under the Second Republic.

Officials insist the naming recognizes Mnangagwa’s “contributions to the country’s legal system.” 

Naturally, who could forget his tenure as Minister of State during Gukurahundi, which left at least 20,000 dead in Matabeleland and parts of Midlands? 

Or his more recent legal acumen as Commander of the Defence Forces, resulting in six deaths on the streets of Harare on 1 August 2018?

With such a shadowy legal pedigree, perhaps it is only fitting that students now have a law school dedicated to researching the origins of Mnangagwa’s own “jurisprudence.” 

The late Eddison Zvobgo must be turning in his grave.

From the Trabablas Interchange to the Emmerson D. Mnangagwa Law School, one thing is clear: in the Second Republic, it is all about Mnangagwa—or Trabablas, or Ruka Chivende.

Infrastructure pace be damned, the President has even begun renaming roads built under Ian Smith. 

And roads are just the beginning: whispers suggest the President’s son is eyeing a street in Harare to convert into his private property.

At this rate, even Blair toilets in rural communities may soon bear the Mnangagwa name. 

There is, it seems, something timeless about dictators and their love for christening everything after themselves.