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Langton Chiwocha chose Emmerson Mnangagwa as one of the 23 candidates for the presidential election in Zimbabwe last year.
Today, he says he deeply regrets his choice.
"We had high expectations because many promises had been made, but the situation has worsened since the elections," Chiwocha told AFP.
"I would like to be able to withdraw my vote, otherwise I might not have had to bother to vote."
Mnangagwa, 76, has taken over from longtime autocrat Robert Mugabe. He participated in the July 30, 2018 elections promising to revive Zimbabwe's sick economy, end liquidity shortages, close down barriers with former Western allies and attract foreign investors.
Chiwocha, with a business degree from a university in the capital Harare, says his hopes have been cruelly dashed.
"I graduated in 2012 and I did not have a job.I thought that after winning the elections, Mnangagwa would repair the economy and that all those who had qualifications would find a job. "
But a few months after the election of Mnangagwa, the ghosts of Zimbabwe's economic past came back: a severe electricity ration and a shortage of fuel, bread, medicines and other products of first necessity.
In June of this year, the annual inflation rate reached 175%, the highest level of the decade. Delighted memories of the terrifying hyperinflation that had reached $ 500 billion in 2009, wiping out savings and wiping out the economy.
This episode ended when the US dollar became the national currency, replacing the Zimbabwean dollar, proudly introduced during independence in 1980.
But in June, Zimbabwe theoretically ended the use of US dollars by replacing them with "bond notes" and electronic RTGS dollars, which would become a new Zimbabwean dollar, a currency that has not yet been introduced on paper.
Exodus
Zimbabweans say it's a nightmare to get current documents such as pbadports, driver's licenses and vehicle license plates – the government is too poor to import the materials needed to make them.
In the last two decades, hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have fled abroad to look for work. Many others now seek to join the exodus as the economy disintegrates.
"We are sitting in a vehicle whose wheels have fallen," AFP Derek Matyszak, a senior researcher at a South African think tank, told the Institute of Security Studies. "Nothing moves".
"Mnangagwa was fully aware that Mugabe had left an economic disaster, and to get out of it needed a re-engagement to attract investment from rich countries, improved governance, and respect for human rights," he said. -he declares.
Two days after the elections, at least six people were killed when soldiers opened fire on protesters demanding the publication of election results.
In January, at least 17 people were shot dead and many wounded. The soldiers were ordered to crush the national demonstrations triggered by the doubling of the price of gasoline.
"The events of August 1 of last year and January of this year have delayed the re-engagement effort and the possibility of a bailout," said Matyszak.
Pessimism
The power is usually on between 22:00 (02:00 GMT) and 5:00 (03:00 GMT). At any other time, businesses are running out of steam if they will get electricity.
"Factories and industries will not open for the duration of the power cuts," said Matyszak. "These are lost production hours, which means that Zimbabweans are going to sink deeper into the hole."
Tony Hawkins, professor at the School of Economics of the University of Zimbabwe, accepted.
"It's very difficult to be pessimistic and negative at the moment," he told AFP.
"Jobs are lost and exports are lost, the fact is that you will not be able to get the economy back on track without some kind of compromise with the main opposition.
"Without this accommodation, the chances of obtaining international recognition and support are slim.They (the government) are caught between the hammer and the anvil.It is a very difficult situation and it is There is no short-term solution. "
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