Rallying behind Amai Mugabe

John Mukumbo
I ALWAYS admire and appreciate the concept of the Shona proverb that says, “Ushe madzoro hunoravadzanwa”, literally translated to mean that leadership is not a permanent duty but should always be relayed to others.
This is what the political situation in the country is heading to as the First Lady, Amai Grace Mugabe, is pondering about moves to accept the leadership of the Zanu-PF Women`s League, currently held by Cde Oppah Muchinguri, after the league unanimously agreed to make her become its leader.

Zanu-PF Women’s League last Friday asked the First Lady to take over the leadership of the league as they saw it necessary to make her its leader. This move should not be received as a surprise or an ambush on Cde Muchinguri’s position, but should be taken as the fulfilment of the Shona adage mentioned above.

The elevation of the First Lady to that powerful position in the Women’s League is a welcome move which was long overdue and it will stabilise the factional wars that have been doing the rounds in the party.

The First Lady should accept this request without hesitation as Cde Muchinguri saw it necessary to pass on the baton to the deserving candidate.

Close analysis of what other countries are doing points to the first ladies of such countries taking active roles in political arenas thereby helping their husbands to take necessary decisions that help their countries. So the First Lady’s elevation is not something which needs debate, but people should take it as a blessing because the First Lady as someone so close to President Mugabe means that her interaction with women would make it easy for their problems to reach the President as soon as possible.

Once such problems get through to the President, it means that solutions would be made available as soon as possible. So the people should rally behind the First Lady’s candidature for that highest position in the Women’s League for the betterment of our political and economic fortunes.

People should not forget that Hillary Clinton, the then First Lady of the United States of America (USA) between 1993 and 2001, was active in politics and she was very influential in causing major political and economic decisions to be made by her husband, Bill Clinton for the USA.

In that way she was made the chairperson of the Health Care Committee of which the health care message was influential in the Bill Clinton presidential elections campaigns in 1992. Hillary Clinton went on to be elected as the first female Senator of New York in 2000.

As if being elected as a Senator was not enough, in 2008 Hillary Clinton ran for Democratic presidential nomination elections in which she nearly won the right to represent the Democrats in the main presidential elections, only to be narrowly beaten on the race by the current USA President Barack Obama.

A lot can be said of Hillary Clinton that can motivate our First Lady to follow on Clinton’s footprints and beginning with this first endorsement to become the Women’s League boss. Clinton, who was the Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, is now eyeing to represent the Democrats in the coming USA presidential elections in three years time.

What a lesson to our First Lady!
Having pointed out the activities of Hillary Clinton as the woman who was active politically during her days as first lady of the USA, Jerry Rawlings’ wife was also active in politics when his husband was the Ghanaian president.

Rawlings went on to urge his wife to challenge Atta John Mills for presidency in elections held there some few years ago although she was beaten, the will and zeal of Rawlings’ wife did show that first ladies could be good in deciding major political decisions of various countries.
This is another lesson for our First Lady. The sky could be the limit for her.

So the elevation of the First Lady to head the Women’s League is good as this will also open doors for her to take active roles in the political field of the country and also make decisions that will benefit all Zimbabweans.

Following the footprints of the above-mentioned former first ladies, our First Lady could take that as lessons and motivating factors that she could use in accepting that offer she got from the Women’s League.

The good thing about the political nature of any country is that there are no anointed politicians.
Anyone can become a politician if opportunities are available and the First Lady should take that opportunity which is now available to her.
Leading the Women’s League should be a welcome development to the First Lady and that must not come as a surprise to her.

The First Lady should formally make it clear to the public that she has accepted the offer to lead the Women’s League so that people begin to celebrate her elevation.

It is now good and acceptable for all the Zimbabweans to welcome the First Lady into the political matrix of this country as a way of making sure that she is well accommodated in this field. The First Lady is good for this position as she is poised to destroy factionalism that is now threatening to destroy this revolutionary party.

So the people must rally behind her candidature so that at the December 2014 Zanu-PF Congress, she gets everyone’s support.