Tinotenda Hove- President Emmerson Mnangagwa is scheduled to speak at the 3rd Russia-Africa Summit plenary this Thursday before holding closed-door talks with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin – another high-profile foreign trip heavy on symbolism but thin on results for Zimbabweans back home.

The summit was officially opened by Putin, who used the platform to push his narrative of a multipolar world order, a theme Mnangagwa has repeatedly echoed while failing to translate grand geopolitical slogans into tangible economic gains.

The government continues to hide behind its much-touted “friend to all and enemy to none” foreign policy mantra, yet the so-called investment inflows remain largely invisible, with the economy still crippled by currency instability, unemployment and capital flight.

Mnangagwa will once again preach about value-addition and beneficiation of minerals as the cornerstone of industrialisation, a speech Zimbabweans have heard for years while raw platinum, lithium and gold continue to be exported with little local processing.

On international affairs, Mnangagwa is expected to posture as a champion of multilateralism and tout Zimbabwe’s UN Security Council non-permanent seat ambitions, using the language of global peace while his administration faces persistent criticism over domestic repression and contested elections.

His bilateral engagement with Putin is being framed as an opportunity to expand cooperation, but critics question what cooperation really means – more opaque resource deals, more military ties, and more photo opportunities that do little to address the country’s deepening economic crisis.