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Yes, and we mean it!
But before we go into the details of just how this could ever be, a historical context of Rugare the man would suffice, the essential truth being that here is a man who got thrown out of the Zanu-PF train last year following a needless regression into an old rebellious streak. We all remember that in the run-up to last year’s congress, Cde Gumbo had become so bold in confrontation with the party leadership and other cadres as he threw his weight behind the nefarious plot to unconstitutionally unseat President Mugabe, the ruling party leader.
He sought to do that for the benefit of Joice Mujuru and had a close ally in Didymus Mutasa, who was the Secretary for Administration then. Together with few others, they formed a cabal that they imagined to be so strong that they would usurp the powers of President Mugabe – force a palace coup.
And assassination was said to be one of the ways they thought they could deal with the President with a member of the cabal being recorded as telling a girlfriend, one of many, that President Mugabe risked a Kabila-style ouster.
That is, having a gun disemboweling him by a close security bodyguard.
We all gaped at that suggestion.
It triggered the memory in some among us of some time during the liberation struggle when Gumbo and a few others mounted such a spirited, murderous rebellion which would easily have turned the whole liberation upside down.
That is, apart from the shedding of fraternal blood, some decorated soldier by the name of Josiah Magama Tongogara had threatened to quit following clashes and taunts by none other than Rugare, who had mastered an education in the United States and sought leadership of the liberation movement.
Luckily, the rebellion, in 1978 was arrested, and Rugare and his treasonous cohorts were contained right until Independence in 1980.
Not that he took revolutionary chastisement.
He was bitter and when he returned home actually was held as a bargaining chip by the British and was housed and clothed by the British-Rhodesian authorities.
But time was to heal – on the surface at least – as Rugare got somewhat reintegrated into society with leadership of some big company and eventually Government and ruling party.
A fine old man
You see, if you are not quite familiar with this history and more, for we are sure we only said less than half of it, you would take Rugare as a fine gentleman. He is soft spoken and has a way of explaining things in a patient manner.
These things are his convictions, which sadly become clouded by his hunger for power which has not quite dissipated since those days he used to hound poor barely educated Tongogara.
President Mugabe knows this dark side of this gentleman and we are told at one meeting he gave him a stern warning that, “Madyira mave kuda kutengesa zvakare here?” or some such strong reprimand to a man who once had the dark punishment of being imprisoned in a dungeon for a couple of years.
But Rugare has his softer, more vulnerable side, too, we understand.
It is said he is a disappointed man for the treatment he has received from the media, especially The Herald, which was his favourite read and he could not understand why, in his view, it turned against him and in particular went on to fish out his dark past.
And he was bitter too about some individuals there he used to like not knowing, in his words, that they were “mamparas” (devils) something he rues to this day as we continue writing about him.
Rugare, Mutasa First
It is now known that for their troubles in seeking to push President Mugabe out unconstitutionally, Rugare Gumbo, Mutasa, Mujuru and a host of others got their silly butts kicked out of the ruling party, some more deserving than others.
The whole conspiracy came crashing down.
Where there were speculations that something big was going to come out of the cabal, with the disgraced Mujuru leading from the front.
A good number looked up to her for guidance at a critical juncture when the momentum was in favour for drastic action like forming a breakaway party and condemning the outcomes of the congress.
She did nothing.
There are many bitter followers of hers that were expecting her to do something, from protecting them from the crushing foot of Zanu-PF to her throwing her hat into the ring.
Temba Mliswa is particularly bitter at this, and wastes no opportunity to say so to everyone that cares to listen.
We suspect that even Rugare Gumbo, on that fateful day in November 2014 when he was told to gather his papers and leave the Politburo to no whimper or cry or shuffling feet, felt the same way.
Mutasa and Mujuru lost Central Committee seats without any fight, did not show their sad faces at Congress with the former with more pathos being taken ill together with his wife and occasioning a letter of excuse to that effect – but to no effect, really!
Interestingly, when these fallen guys rallied around a creature called People First, Mujuru did not come to the party.
Again.
She gives an impression she is being forced; she is unwilling, her hand being twisted into signing documents and declarations that her heart does not have anything to do with.
Meanwhile, Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa are in the private media everyday trying to prop up People First as a political force.
It is known that the project is all hot air and doomed.
We have seen how desperate the private media have tried to prop up the project to no avail.
A reporter from one of these stables was recently heard admitting that People First was a dud, despairing even that he had tried his best.
President Mugabe was right: it’s just a myth.
Or more accurately, the “People” it refers to are only Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa who are coming first at this outcast project because of their enduring desperation.
Rugare is right
But we have digressed, albeit filling a good number of memory spaces.
Now, Gumbo came up with a brilliant riposte this week.
The same private media, with the help of the opposition, had sought to bundle him into endorsing a not so hopeful pact of a coalition led by some unknown quantity of a cleric going by the name of Magaya, obviously not the popular Walter, of PHD Ministries.
The paper in question wanted him to confirm whether People First had signed some anti-elections document.
To which the veteran politician responded: “I would need to check with Mutasa, but as a party we agreed in principle that we will support the call for reforms by other opposition parties. But for the avoidance of doubt, People First will not be boycotting any elections because there are no reforms.
“It would be ideal if we are to go to elections in 2018 in a democratic political environment characterised by a level playing field. But we would be doing Zimbabweans a disservice if we are to fold our hands and expect Zanu-PF to commit political suicide by instituting reforms that it knows will precipitate its demise. We are not naïve, but also alive to the fact that these reforms are constitutional that every Zimbabwean must demand.”
Apart from confirming that the Rugare/Mutasa First project had its left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, Gumbo had sound and practical political ideas.
First, he dismissed the whole idea of boycotting elections, which the main opposition MDC-T has been propagating without depth or rationality.
Secondly, he noted that the so-called level playing field is so Utopian and idealistic.
Thirdly and most importantly, he does not expect “Zanu-PF to commit political suicide by instituting reforms that it knows will precipitate its demise”.
That’s the reality!
That’s politics!
This is a reality that the opposition, if they are serious political players, should internalise thanks to a free lesson from Rugare Gumbo.
It’s the quintessential politics.
You cannot use the power of incumbency to undo the same incumbency.
That will be naivety – much like that which afflicted the MDCs when they went into power sharing not so many years ago.
For once we have to say Rugare Gumbo is right.
Online Reporter