President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday met Chelsea and Ivory Coast football legend Didier Drogba in Rwanda.
Mnangagwa and the once sensational football star are both attending the Africa Green Revolution Forum 2022, an annual nature-conservative summit, in Kigali.
Posting on his Facebook account Monday, Mnangagwa described Drogba as a true African hero. He posted a picture of himself with the football legend and captioned them:
A true African hero – thank you my brother Didier Drogba
There were no details of the two’s meeting.
Meanwhile, the meeting has angered some who believe Mnangagwa is using the international profile enjoyed by the much-loved European football celebrities to try and sanitise his image ahead of the 2023 elections.
One TiCCCh Ray said it was “terribly annoying how a hero and a man of Didier Drogba’s stature would allow himself to be used for pontification and optics.”
He added that the Ivorian international should be aware of the misrule in Harare, Zimbabwe, and the effects therefrom on the citizenry.
Others took the chance to speak about “bad” governance, the “collapsed” health sector, economic challenges and a “politicised” justice system.
Others, however, said the president was probably luring Drogba to invest in the Southern African country.