Dar es Salaam, March 13 -- ZIMBABWE: A long convoy of armoured personnel tanks rolling through a Harare neighbourhood sparked concerns – for a brief moment – that a military coup was afoot in Zimbabwe.

“Whats going on in Zimbabwe?” one person posted on social media. Another said: “The last time this happened there was a coup.”

Government spokesman Nick Mangwana was quick to allay the publics fears, explaining the tanks were in the capital that mid-February morning as part of a scheduled exercise to test equipment and were “nothing to be concerned about”.

Yet the chatter and speculation continued, revealing much about the state of the country.

Ahead of the routine military drill, Presiden...