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Lovemore Mataire and Susan Nyabunze Harare Bureau
THE actions and pronouncements by members of the putschist cabal linked to expelled former Vice President Joice Mujuru vindicate Zanu-PF’s decision to suspend and boot the lot from its ranks, party leaders said yesterday.
Legal experts also scoffed at the Mujuru cabal’s announcement that it was going to launch a party called Zanu-People First, saying no competent court would support the move to piggyback the revolutionary party.
Although cabal spokesperson Didymus Mutasa yesterday claimed it was too early to announce the name of the political party, he was quoted in the Mujuru mouthpiece, The Daily News, saying the cabal was going to launch a political party called Zanu-People First, as they claimed to be the original Zanu-PF distinct from the post 6th National People’s Congress one.
In a telephone interview with Star FM, Mutasa revealed that the cabal was working with Simba Makoni and Dumiso Dabengwa pursuant to launching the political grouping.
“We want to have a party, but we’re still talking about it. As soon as we decide, we’ll let you know. We’re with Mai Mujuru, Rugare Gumbo and all those who were removed from the party. It’s many of us from different opposition parties such as Simba Makoni, Dumiso Dabengwa and a lot of others who were no longer supporting Zanu-PF,” Mutasa said.
Mutasa’s nephew Temba Mliswa told the media last week that the cabal was pursuing an alliance with the MDC-T to challenge Zanu-PF in 2018.
Zanu-PF national spokesperson Cde Simon Khaya Moyo said there was only one Zanu-PF and the Mujuru cabal represented an as yet unknown organisation.
“We only know of one Zanu-PF, the one that liberated this country and is also governing this country. Those are expelled members and from our standpoint, they represent something that we can’t find appropriate words to describe,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
Zanu-PF Politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo concurred saying the Mujuru-Mutasa-Rugare circus had now come full circle.
“(The) Mujuru-Mutasa-Rugare fiasco has now come full circle for everyone to see. Media revelations by Mutasa and Rugare that all along Joice Mujuru was leading a faction called Zanu People First put paid to any rational questions about why the threesome had to be expelled from Zanu Patriotic Front.
“In fact many Zimbabweans are openly wondering why Mujuru wasn’t expelled a long time ago following Mutasa’s media revelations that the disgraced former Vice President, now famously known as Dr 10%, was leading a faction called “People First” aimed at toppling President Mugabe to remove Zanu-PF from power outside electoral politics.
“But everyone, including a primary school child, knows that Zanu-PF has never had a high sounding postfix called “People First”. Never ever! It’s therefore utterly preposterous for Mutasa to say that anything called “People First” is the original Zanu-PF. That fatuous claim can only come from somebody who has lost his marbles. If there’s a political faction called Zanu People First led by Joice Mujuru, then it’s in the treacherous company of previous similar puppet formations such as Zanu Ndonga or Zanu Mwenje.
“One unassailable legal and political fact is that there’s, has been and will always be one indivisible Zanu-PF. Media dreams of a split will come to grief not least because the nefarious pursuits of expelled malcontents in the wilderness can’t be rationally described a split. Dumiso Dabengwa’s 2008 foray into the political wilderness wasn’t a split in Zanu-PF nor was Simba Makoni’s Mavambo in the same year which ended up as Magumo in 2013.
“It’s also notable that the expelled Mujuru-Mutasa-Rugare cabal was widely seen as the money-faction before its long overdue expulsion because money was, as it still is more important to the threesome than ideology.
“The ‘People First’ slogan that Mutasa has stolen from briefcase NGO and is now using on Mujuru’s behalf is actually a code for “Funds First”. The Mujuru-Mutasa-Rugare cabal, which is desperate for funds, believes the MDC propaganda that donors are gullible and will readily pour money into anything that’s anti-Zanu-PF, anti-President Mugabe and uses an NGO mantra like “People First” to mean “Funds First”.
“And so there you have it. Mujuru and company are so into money that they now think they’ll take Zimbabweans for a ride to use their expulsion to cash in big time by seeking Funds First under the guise of a supposedly People First NGO strategy targeting regime change donors,” Prof Moyo said.
Legal experts said the cabal’s attempt to pilfer and benefit from Zanu-PF’s goodwill would not wash as no competent court would back their claim that they are the original Zanu-PF.
Harare lawyer Moses Kamudefwere said the law would not allow individuals to masquerade as Zanu-PF when the record shows they were expelled from the party.
“I think the law will not allow them to pass themselves off as Zanu-PF and their attempt to benefit from the rich history of the party founded on liberation ideals. Anyone who attempts to use the same insignia as Zanu-PF is passing off as unlawful because they want to benefit from the legacy of the party as constituted by its constitution and organs,” said Kamudefwere.
The cabal’s actions, he said, are mischievous and no court could possibly uphold the abuse of Zanu-PF’s name and symbols to that extent.
Tendai Toto of T A Toto Legal Practitioners said Zanu-PF was at liberty to approach the courts to bar the cabal’s attempt to prejudice Zanu-PF supporters.
“Political parties must be aware that there is need to protect their brand through the Patent and Copyrights Act to ensure that there’s no abuse of their names,” said Toto.
Zanu-PF Harare provincial chairman, Cde Godwills Masimirembwa, who is also a lawyer, said the Mujuru cabal must choose a different name as they were no longer members of Zanu-PF.
“It’s totally wrong; it’s a sign of cowardice as they want to benefit from the hugely popular brand of Zanu-PF. They’re a bunch of counterfeits,” Cde Masimirembwa said.
Chris Mhike of Atherstone and Cook said what would distinguish the authentic Zanu-PF from the pretenders’ Zanu-PF would be the will of the people as reflected through the ballot box since politics is a game of numbers.
Mujuru was expelled from Zanu-PF last week on the back of a litany of allegations among them corruption, abuse of office, creating another centre of power and colluding with foreigners and enemies of the revolutionary party.
She is reported to be the brains behind the Zanu-People First.
Suffice to say the cabal spokespersons Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo always make wild claims that have no historical foundation in pursuit of the Mujuru project.
The most glaring being the claim that they are the original Zanu-PF formed in 1963 when the record will show that Zanu-PF was only formed after the 1987 Unity Accord that brought together Zanu and PF Zapu.
What was formed in 1963 was Zanu as a splinter from Zapu.
Equally preposterous is the cabal’s claim that they are the original Zanu-PF when they are bastardising the suffix PF to ‘People First’ when in Zanu-PF the PF means ‘Patriotic Front’.
Analysts say this bastardisation of the party name to NGO-speak is quite telling and shows the cabal’s departure from the party’s founding principles as exemplified by Didymus Mutasa’s repudiation of the land reform programme and indigenisation and economic empowerment policies in his interview with the Mail and Guardian of South Africa, and in subsequent statements to The Daily News.
The use of the MDC-T mouthpiece, The Daily News, to push the cabal’s agenda — analysts say— is also quite telling as it confirms all the allegations raised against members of the cabal and vindicate Zanu-PF’s decision to expel or suspend them.
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