adminMuchadura Dube
THE political terrain is full of intrigue and evokes laughter as once mighty people, or is it self-proclaimed purists and political giants, fall by the wayside as political tastes of voters change, they become a disillusioned lot.
As much as ‘political tastes’ change with time, politicians’ fortunes wane as a result of diverse factors. There is Dr Simba Makoni, a former Cabinet minister and Politburo member of the ruling Zanu-PF whose ego was deflated in the July 31, 2013 harmonised elections when he lost the Makoni Central seat to the maverick and politically astute Cde Patrick Chinamasa of Zanu-PF who humiliated three other aspiring candidates besides Dr Makoni.
Currently Cde Chinamasa is the Finance Minister in the Zanu-PF-led Government. Dr Makoni had been buoyed by a false sense of relevance when he garnered an 8 percent vote of the electorate.
Someone did not explain to Dr Makoni that those votes were not his, rather he benefitted from the Zanu-PF vote which opted to vote differently due to some malcontents among the ruling party who encouraged party membership to rebel against it after they were sponsored by the usual suspects, the West, whose failing goal has always been to dislodge Zanu-PF by employing the divide and rule tactics.
I had thought Dr Makoni, educated as he is, could have read the wind when he decided to contest in the Makoni Central seat as part of the so-called coalition with the embattled and philanderer of repute, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.
The move by Mr Tsvangirai to accommodate Dr Makoni enraged the MDC-T supporters’ preferred candidate, Mr Patrick Sagandara, who then opted to be an independent candidate.
The move naturally benefitted the buoyant and solid Zanu-PF machinery in that constituency which was poised for victory. Indeed Zanu-PF was rewarded immensely by the electorate who overwhelmingly endorsed its iconic Presidential candidate, President Mugabe, and his revolutionary party, the party of political liberation and economic empowerment, Zanu-PF.
Dr Makoni had no support at all, for other than the surname Makoni, he has nothing which identified him with the electorate in that constituency. It is not enough to merely ride on the so-called crest of change politics without having concrete plans for the populace.
Zimbabweans can see through these lies hence their decision to relegate the likes of Dr Makoni to the dustbin of history. Dr Makoni is now not even in the periphery of national politics, to all intents and purposes, he is now a nonentity in Zimbabwe’s political space.
If he has any business entity that he runs, such as that eating house in Mt Pleasant, he is best advised to concentrate on that. Anyway, since it is the democratic right of every Zimbabwean to aspire for political office, if in the futility of his mind, he thinks that one day his political fortunes will change, he has the constitutional privilege to continue dreaming.
Last week, I saw a Press statement by Dr Makoni in which he sought to lampoon the First Lady, Dr Grace Mugabe, over her fully subscribed Meet-the-People rallies.
The First Lady toured all the country’s 10 provinces to show her appreciation of the overwhelming endorsement which she received on her nomination to the powerful Women’s League secretary’s position.
Dr Makoni’s Press statement sought to cast the First Lady in bad light, her ‘crime’ being her nomination to the league position. With all the academic credentials attributed to Dr Makoni, his statement defies all logic, shredding Mavambo’s claim to respect every individual’s right to freedom of association.
The First Lady has the right to associate with any individual or any political party of her choice. That her political party of choice is Zanu-PF, where she has been already endorsed to lead is good news to all progressive people in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in the world.
While Dr Makoni and like-minded characters are seeking relevance in their futile attempt to soil the image of the First Lady, Zanu-PF is already guaranteed of victory in the 2018 elections. The First Lady has drawn multitudes of people in her rallies, an indicator to any political mind that indeed the revolutionary party, Zanu-PF, has the numbers needed to romp to victory if an election was to be held today and even as scheduled in 2018.
To any alert political pundit, ordinarily politics is a game of numbers.
Zanu-PF has the numbers, so for the ill-informed or is it arrogant Dr Makoni, the First Lady, wife to the legendary political icon, President Mugabe, epitomizes the virtues which the revolutionary party stands for.
On the back of my mind, I thought the politically bankrupt Dr Makoni, a former Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), owes the nation an explanation on the financial scandal which surfaced prior to his departure from that coveted office.
There is a school of thought which alleges that Dr Makoni could have dipped his fingers into the coffers of that august body.
It will only be fair if he could tell the whole world what exactly transpired given his penchant for transparency, if his ranting is to be taken seriously.
For the 10 years that Dr Makoni served SADC, then as a Cabinet minister, he never did anything extraordinary, save to conclude that he used his term of office to interact with his would-be sponsors whose aims were to split and paralyze Zanu-PF, a plan which suffered a still birth.
Dr Makoni has become a liability to the national political discourse. He is no longer relevant and he is certainly a politically spent force. Makoni’s attempt to resurface using the First Lady’s successful tours as his springboard should be condemned for what it is.
Muchadura Dube is a Nyanga-based farmer and political analyst
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