Do not expect much from Mujuru

John Sigauke
The alleged entry of Dr Joice Mujuru into opposition politics has raised many expectations from the people who were misled into thinking that Zanu-PF is a failed party that needs to be dislodged from power. However, those high-pitched hopes are certainly going to be thwarted once again as happened with the preceding pawn parties.

People must not expect too much from Mujuru and her upcoming political ensemble. The players in that party have no record of any successful stories. The People First, like the MDCs in their fragmented forms, will not bring any glory to the people of Zimbabwe.

Judging by its manifesto or whatever they call it, there is absolutely nothing to look forward to from that party. If anything, people must just anticipate the reversal of the gains of independence which is packaged in property rights rhetoric.

If truth be told, the sprouting of all puppet parties in Zimbabwe is motivated by selfish desire to fatten pockets.

There is very little consideration for the interests of the electorate. The opposition politicians, most of whom are mere opportunists, just want to use the ordinary people as ladders to climb to their political climax.

The bickering already existing within the opposition and the stiff resistance to a coalition is quite instructive. It is a fact that the opposition stands a chance of, at most, giving Zanu-PF a good run for its money if they coalesce and fight the revolutionary party as a single entity.

They all know this but their egos are an obstacle to such a coalition. Nobody wants to subordinate himself to another leader. This is a clear show that the fashionable ‘people first’ rhetoric is a farce.

It was quite interesting to hear Rugare Gumbo and Jabulani Sibanda sensationally claiming that there were many other Zanu PF bigwigs who are ready to jump ship and join the People First party. Really?

Gumbo and Sibanda must not stir speculation. These people have names that they must be named if they want people to take them seriously. It is pointless to hide their identity if they are to defect as the two claims. Zanu-PF is a democratic party that upholds people’s rights to join and exit it.

If there are people who are indeed entertaining that imprudent idea, they are very free to make their exit, the earlier the better. Zanu-PF will not cease to exist because some disgruntled officials have crossed the floor. Their early exit will help the party to constitute a team that is devoid of snakes in the grass. President Mugabe wants to field a team of hard-working and ideologically upright ministers who will grow the economy. With these disgruntled officials in Zanu-PF, the President risks picking on such people for ministerial posts who will subsequently frustrate government policies from within.

Hopefully we do not have such people within the revolutionary party. Perhaps the claim is the figment of imagination of Gumbo and Sibanda who know for sure that they are heading for their political sunset. Thus, they want to kiss death with other gullible officials. There is a false sense of security when people head for doom in their numbers. Gumbo and Sibanda want to sink into political oblivion with others whose situations might be redeemable.

Back in the village, the elders would say ‘anyangira yaona’. People are now so politically conscious that political renegades such as those in the People First can no longer easily dupe them. They are not like flies anymore, which follow a corpse into a grave. They do not want to be buried with the political corpses in the People First.

We have heard that language for the umpteen times. When Dr Simba Makoni formed his party, he also told the nation without mentioning names, that some Zanu-PF big wheels were to follow him enmasse. Who then followed him save for Dumiso Dabengwa who later formed his own ZAPU not the one founded by Father Zimbabwe. Even the people who fronted Makoni in the plot, lost guts and chickened out. Today Makoni has become a village politician who is always the first to swallow the idea of coalition. He knows that this is the only arrangement that can sustain his relevance.

Some people are designing an oversized shoe for Mai Mujuru. The popularity that they ascribe to her is non-existent. She only commanded that popularity by virtue of being President Mugabe’s assistance. She only enjoyed borrowed popularity as a Zanu-PF cadre.

Tsvangirai, Biti or Dabengwa are very free to slot her into their predestined futile projects. They have been scrambling to win the heart of Mujuru and her allies. They can take them at their own peril for they know the reasons behind their expulsion. One-day history will repeat itself.

We all heard Themba Mliswa advising Tsvangirai to accept Mujuru as a junior partner in the coalition. He said Mujuru has an experience as a perpetrator of violence while Tsvangirai has experience as a victim of the violence. Mliswa is already currying favour from Tsvangirai. It is a matter of a kettle calling a pot black. He is the worst violent thug that remained in Zanu-PF on account of his uncle Didymus Mutasa’s protection.

Even at the MDC-T’s 16th anniversary in Chivhu, Mliswa advocated violence. “We want youths who are militant who shall undergo self-defence courses,” he said.

The MDC-T has been berating and accusing Zanu PF of unleashing political violence. It is shocking that they gave Mliswa a standing ovation when he called for violence.

It is the usual hypocrisy of a party that has run out of ideas.

Mliswa and Sibanda with their violent disposition blend perfectly with this equally violent party.