adminIT seems there is a desperate attempt to construct an imagined gulf in the current Zanu-PF leadership configurations. The level of desperation has reached such alarming levels to an extent of being trivial and childish and in many instances leaving focussed political analysts in stitches as it reflects shallowness in the understanding of the country’s politics.
A close scrutiny on the genesis of the desperate and futile attempt to construct a camp of victors and the vanquished in Zanu-PF reflects a continuation of the machinations by the string of networks of ousted Vice-President Mujuru whose hangers on seem still determined to bring disorder and instability and thus paint the new leadership as failures.
What the network of misinforms seem not to realise is that it was in fact their simplicity and political naivety which made them remain blind to the obvious demise of the former VP to the extent of leading her to her political grave due to lack of structured reading and analysis of the changing political environment.
The same groupings for the same reasons of political naivety also continue to pretend that there is a Joice Mujuru spirit somewhere to which some MPs are possessed and they will use that spiritual power to pass a vote of no confidence on President Mugabe. Such kindergarten approach to political analysis undoubtedly creates a dangerous society and should not be allowed to roam freely without being exorcised.
It is despicable to imagine there is someone out there who wants to give an impression that there is someone in the current parliament configuration who still wants to identify with a powerless former Vice-President who is at the rock bottom end of her political career. It is even disturbing to imagine how Mujuru who could not even save herself from the political tsunami which also befell men that no one ever thought could be shaken like Didymus Mutasa, Nicholas Goche and Webster Shamu just to name but a few. And then for one to think that an ordinary MP out there in some corner of the country will raise his head against the new order that swept aside political giants is being disingenuous.
So desperate are the sentiments that no matter how factual a statement is given on any matter it is scrutinised to mean there are fissures in the ruling Zanu-PF party. What seems to be the real new story that has characterised the new editorial and public discourse is a diversion from the factual reality that Zanu-PF has come out of the congress stronger than ever as it managed to crush the many centres of power that had characterised its existence in the past.
The congress managed to come up with long overdue constitutional party safeguards against many centres of power which had become the party’s weakest link. What cannot be disputed about Zanu-PF is that it is news and many local and international media have feasted on the story of Zanu-PF divisions.
The current configurations and stabilisation of the party have made it difficult for them to move to the new reality that the old story and discourse is water under the bridge and a new one has emerged.
The new narrative is one of stabilisation of the ruling party as the key actor in directing Government policy formulation and implementation. Unfortunately that narrative seems not juicy enough hence the attempt to cling on to the old narrative of divisions, fissures and infighting, most of it imagined and fictitious. In fact, for the catalysts of regime change and destruction of the legacy of the liberation struggle the new centre of struggle was the fragmentation of Zanu-PF from within to enable them to harvest a bigger portion for fertilisation with their willing tool in the form of the MDC-T to create a political molato/hybrid designed to entrench the Western hegemony and interests. The main purpose of this approach has always been to weaken the revolutionary and Pan Africanist trajectory that Zanu-PF has been pursuing in the interest of economic empowerment of marginalised Zimbabweans.
The quandary that some people find themselves in is how to accept the new reality that the many centres of power have been destroyed and that they continue to cling on to the ugly past and imagining the new fissures which fits well to what had become their key narrative.
In a bid to justify their narrative they have gone on to create two sets of fictions both aimed at weakening President Mugabe and his new lieutenants.
The first one is to demonise and vilify Vice-President Mphoko by questioning his liberation war credentials and post-independence national assignment as a way of causing his rejection first in Matabeleland and then the rest of the country. The strategy being that if he is disowned by his own then he won’t be accepted nationally. The second one is to isolate Vice-President Mnangangwa by presenting him as a regional leader who is also insensitive to team work by allegedly abandoning those he has been working with in the past. The impression being created is that there is a new parallel leadership in Zanu-PF called the gang of four consisting of Professor Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere, Oppah Muchinguri and Patrick Zhuwawo.
The idea is to group the four as working outside the confines and dictates of the party rules and regulations and are therefore capable of imposing their will against the collective, thus making them a separate centre of power from the formal party organs led by President Mugabe. There is something suspicious in the grouping as it is not just an innocent lumping of names. Infact those of us who love target shooting will tell that this is a neat grouping of individuals carefully selected and grouped to achieve some political mischief. Remember the whole issue of the gang of four was initiated by Rugare Gumbo as a clear signal of isolating the four from the party activities. It has since been developed further to enable the circling of the four out of the party collective and thus making them easy targets for a hit.
The idea would be to create party fragmentation by weakening it through a hit of any of the four so that it appears like an internal job and thus cause deep party division. A close scrutiny of the four will tell you that it is designed to play Zanu-PF nationalists on regional cards. While the so called gang of four which in fact is the “targeted four” are all nationalists of unquestioned credentials it is their grouping that raises more questions than answers. In African politics this cannot be ignored because desperate people resort to such desperate measures to achieve destabilisation agendas.
For instance Saviour Kasukuwere is a known nationalist and national leader whose political roots and foundations are in Mashonaland Central province. Similarly Oppah Muchinguri is a decorated liberation war heroine who is a nationalist to the marrow and a national leader whose political origins are in Manicaland Province. Professor Jonathan Moyo is a known Pan-Africanist and nationalist and leader with a national clout but whose political roots are from Matabeleland. Also Patrick Zhuwawo is a known nationalist with a strongly rising national profile but whose political roots are in Mashonaland West province. The conclusion is that by grouping the four as a gang against Mnangagwa you are setting the majority of Zanu-PF political provinces against him. By extension the attempt is to project an image of a war against the Karanga origins of Mnangagwa by the rest of the party heavy-weights. In so doing the wedge of divisions are enhanced and the fragmentation of Zanu-PF catalysed. While the initial fissures have been Mujuru vs Mnangagwa, the current ones are attempted to be Mnangangwa against the rest of the provinces. This new machination at divisions of Zanu-PF should thus be viewed as very serious as it has a hidden poison chalice of inciting divisions based on regional identities.
The current setup which centralises power on the head of the party is not suited for the divisive and fragmentation elements hence the loud shouts when the Government gives corrective positions to some misinformation. For instance when the Government spokesman Professor Moyo gave clarity on succession in the Zanu-PF and national constitution, the response was that this was a confirmation of the feud between the two. Yet the correct position is what Prof Moyo correctly states is that should a need arise to replace the incumbent before his term expires, the national constitution gives the party holding the position to nominate the person to fill the position.
In such a case the Zanu-PF constitution clearly stipulates that an extraordinary congress should be held for party bonafide structures to elect the leader to fill the position. VP Mnangagwa’s situation has been made even more delicate by his continued reference as Vice-President Number One when no such ranking of Vice-Presidents exist in the constitution except if that is derived from the fact that he was sworn in first. I am sure legal gurus like Alex Magaisa can help us on that one.
Some of the issues that have caused mayhem and are viewed as a confirmation of the huge fissures relate to statements by Josiah Hungwe who equated VP Mnangagwa to the Son of Man, the equalisation of Mrs Mnangagwa to the Acting First Lady and the highlighting of problems associated with VP Mnangagwa’s hosting of business people to discuss national investment plans at his farm. Yet if one was to be more objective in analysis they can tell that all this is more directed at assisting him settle well into the hot seat associated with his office without raffling feathers and causing unnecessary suspicions through conduct similar to the one of his predecessor.
When one rises to such a high office, the temptation to hero-worship is always there but it is how one deals with it that shows their readiness to embrace everyone and not a sectional clique and that makes him a sectional and not national leader. However, there is need to remind those close to the people in high office that bootlicking does not help their colleagues go forward. Sometimes that reminder can be seen as harsh yet if one is to be honest they would tell that it is necessary in the interest of national development and growth. The fact that the old order was characterised by opaque transactions in the privacy of residences of senior Government officials, the new order should be characterised by transparent diarised discussions in the Government buildings. Opaque transactions of Government business in private residences are a breeding ground for patronage and corruption hence the need to nip it in the bud before it becomes part of the culture of the new order. This new order undoubtedly helps protect them and the integrity of the offices they hold. Infact it is a way of assisting them to be acceptable national leaders capable of getting into the big shoes of President Mugabe should they be chosen to do so in future.
But assuming we go by the arguments that have been proffered on the said bitterness of the “targeted four” it would be absurdity to conclude that they did not substantially benefit from the current party and Government configuration. With the whole issue of personal benefits out of party and Government deployments it would be folly to think that the “targeted four” did not benefit from the new configurations. For Muchinguri the target was to oust her out of the Women’s League, Central Committee, Politburo and the Government yet she emerged as a holder of a full portfolio not leading a wing, a Central Committee member, part of the newly streamlined Politburo comprising fewer people and assigned to a new and exciting Government portfolio given that she had in the past served in the women and gender portfolio.
Professor Moyo who was also targeted for ousting from the party and the Government hence the misleading of the President to believe that he was a weevil and the subsequent declaration by Mutasa for annihilation using gamatox, Prof Moyo did not only retain his Government portfolio where the Mujuru people wanted him out because of exposing corruption but got a Politburo promotion from being a mere committee member to a head of a full portfolio of Science and Technology which resonates with the country’s aspirations for accelerated technological advancement.
To add to this excitement his deputy Supa Mandiwanzira with who they had formed a colossal combination was also promoted to head a full ministerial portfolio as a sign that under him he had been well exposed to be able to head a ministry. But not only is he heading a ministry but one whose duties and responsibilities are linked to the responsibilities of his former boss in the party Politburo. As for Kasukuwere I will not even get into any discussion because the position of Commissar is the engine room of the party and from where he was, which I cannot even remember that is indeed a serious reward. As for Zhuwawo he is part of the young people still being processed to form the nucleus for the future but also he has lots of responsibilities under the Zhuwawo Institute to contribute to the policy implementation processes.
Having said all this it is my conclusion that it is naivety of the highest order to imagine that the said feud exists in Zanu-PF. Most importantly it is also the naivety of unimaginable proportions to think that “the targeted four” are not in support of President Mugabe’s appointed deputies. But it is the deep analysis of the insights into the reasons behind the political desperation and the deliberate clutch to the narrative of the past politics that will form the basis of the next week piece!
Dr Qhubani Moyo is a policy and political analyst from Bulawayo East Constituency. He is contactable on [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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