The main opposition party across the Limpopo insists that “we wuz robbed” in the July 30 elections that returned Zanu-PF to power and gave Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had been caretaker President since the November 2017 ouster of Robert Mugabe, a fresh, five-year mandate.

Not even a Constitutional Court judgment confirming Mnangagwa’s victory was enough to mollify the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which must be feeling the same way American boxing manager Joe Jacobs felt in 1932, when one of his fighters controversially lost to an opponent, prompting him to utter the now famous “we wuz robbed” line. In fact, so infuriated were the MDC’s new Parliamentarians that they had no qualms about throwing decorum out the window when the head of Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court presided over the swearing-in of top National Assembly and Senate functionaries early this month. They drowned him out with taunts of ‘Thief Justice’ and proceedings only got under way after a lengthy delay.

But a reality that cannot be wished away is that Zanu-PF will be in charge until at least 2023. A key question for Zimbabweans and the rest of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is whether there is any hope that, this time around, the party, which has governed nonstop since 1980, will make a positive difference, particularly on the economic front. Yes, a prosperous Zimbabwe is good news for other SADC countries as well. Imagine the sums that Zimbabwe’s neighbours would save in freight costs alone if they did not have to import goods from half the world away that a functioning Zimbabwe could produce. Then there is the question of mass migration to other countries in the region, which are themselves battling to provide services for their own citizens. Many Zimbabweans would definitely prefer to be in their own country if there were jobs.

It is probably too early to tell, but the new Cabinet that has been assembled does inspire the hope that the President is serious about turning the fortunes of the country around. He has ejected much of the deadwood that his predecessor retained for years – decades in some cases – and appointed several technocrats to key Ministries.

For me, the most impressive of the newcomers is Professor Mthuli Ncube, who will be presiding over the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. Many in South African academic and economic circles should remember him. A University of Cambridge-trained economist, he was dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and later dean of the Wits Business School in the mid-2000s. He led the business school to the forty-fifth global rank in the UK Financial Times’ 2007 survey.

Ncube also served as a board member of the South African Financial Services Board, which regulates nonfinancial banking institutions in this country, as well as chairperson of the National Small Business Advisory Council. In 2008 and 2009, he was rated one of the ‘Best Managers’ in the manager-ranking surveys in this country.

Ncube later had a stint as the chief economist and VP of the African Development Bank, after which he joined the Blavatnik School of Government at the UK’s Oxford University as professor of public policy. His other high-profile positions have included chairperson of the African Economic Research Foundation, chairperson of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Poverty and Economic Development and governor of the African Capacity Building Foundation.

When Mnangagwa’s call came through, he was based in Switzerland, where he was MD and head of Quantum Global Research Lab. This outfit is part of Quantum Global Group, which manages a suite of funds targeting investments in the African agriculture, healthcare, hotels, infrastructure, mining and forestry sectors, as well as a sector-agnostic structured equity fund.

Ncube is not a member of Zanu-PF. That Mnangagwa selected him is amply indicative of his desire for positive change in the country. And Ncube, given his formidable credentials and international standing, does not need the Finance Minister’s job. In fact, accepting the appointment was akin to climbing down – an act of patriotism.