Zimbabweans have largely dismissed the move by president Emmerson Mnangagwa to queue along with ordinary citizens to buy fried chicken over the weekend, with just a little over a month to the election.

State media had sought to highlight the president’s ‘everyday man’ credentials, after he made an unscheduled stop on Sunday at a fast food outlet in the small town of Chegutu, 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of the capital Harare.

“He ordered a two-piecer and a minute maid (juice), paid $3.75 with $20 and told me to keep the change,” said Isabel Mtongerwa, the cashier who served Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa is working hard to shed his image as Mugabe’s enforcer, engaging the public on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, something Mugabe frowned upon.

Prior to coming to power last November when Mugabe was forced to resign following a de facto military coup, Mnangagwa was secretive and insular, preferring to operate under the radar, and was known by the monicker ‘Ngwena’, a Shona word which means ‘Crocodile’.