HARARE - It has been a busy few days for the Zimbabwean state, which spent Sunday admiring a farm and Monday signing up to host a summit.
On Sunday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the First Lady, Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, hosted Cabinet ministers and senior government officials at Precabe Farm in Kwekwe, in the Midlands. The farm, which is the President’s own, is spelled Pricabe in some reports.
“The tour offered our leadership team a first-hand appreciation of modern agricultural production, advanced mechanisation, and innovative agro-processing initiatives,” Mnangagwa said, according to ZimEye. He described agriculture as “the backbone of our economy” and added: “We continue to lead by example.”
He went further. “Through hard work, innovation, and dedication, we will achieve an empowered and prosperous upper-middle-income society by 2030,” he said.
The farm as a manifesto
The message was clear enough: a modern, mechanised farm is what hard work looks like, and the rest of the country should take note. ZimEye, reporting the visit, pointed to the contrast with small-scale farmers who continue to face limited access to affordable inputs, financing, reliable electricity and viable markets.
One of the cartoons accompanying this report imagines the logical end point, with a notice pinned to the State House gate announcing that the government has moved to the farm. It is a joke. But the image speaks to a recurring question in Zimbabwean politics about where the line runs between the President’s private success and the state’s public business.
Meanwhile, back in town
On Monday, the government moved on to diplomacy. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Professor Amon Murwira and COMESA Secretary General Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe signed the hosting agreement for the 25th COMESA Summit of Heads of State and Government, the regional bloc said in a statement.
The summit will be held in Harare from 19 to 22 October 2026 under the theme “ONE MARKET, ONE FUTURE: Advancing Inclusive Industrialisation, Investment and Regional Integration in COMESA.” COMESA said the agenda is expected to include the launch of its Medium-Term Strategic Plan for 2026 to 2030, and that the New Parliament of Zimbabwe will be the venue. Kapwepwe, according to the statement, said a Secretariat delegation had met Zimbabwean officials in July and was satisfied with the progress made.
For Zimbabwe, COMESA said, hosting offers a chance to “showcase its trade, tourism and investment opportunities.”
The fresh coat of paint
Showcasing requires a showroom, and Harare has been tidying up. In August, the City of Harare, the Environmental Management Agency and Geo Pomona Waste Management trained about 100 “Zero Waste Champions” under the theme “Promoting Sustainable Waste Management and a Litter-Free COMESA Summit,” the council said. The initiative, it added, is expected to improve Harare’s appearance ahead of the summit.
On 9 September, Mayor Jacob Mafume and Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe launched the city’s urban regeneration operation with a clean-up along ED Mnangagwa Road, according to the council, which said vendors had been given notice more than a week earlier.
The second cartoon here captures the mood with a cracked thatched hut held up by a pole marked PROPAGANDA, a COMESA sign and a voice telling someone called Daniel that all the place needs is “a little fresh coat of paint”. Readers may draw their own conclusions about which Daniel the artist had in mind. The council’s own statements, to be fair, speak of long-term waste management as well as appearances.
Two shows, one audience
The farm tour and the summit are, in their different ways, exercises in presentation. One invites ministers to admire what a well-funded private farm can achieve. The other invites regional leaders to admire a capital in its Sunday best.
Neither is a crime. Both are reminders that in Zimbabwean governance the photograph is often the policy. The real test, for the farm and for the city, will come after the visitors have gone home and the paint has had time to dry.
