adminMukachana Hanyani
THE revelation by the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe in Marondera last week, that the main political parties in the country, namely the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) were all formed in the house of one of the top leaders within Zanu-PF has sent tongues wagging, with most opposition political leaders falling on each other in a bid of trying to exonerate as clean, the suspected top Zanu-PF leader who is alleged to be behind these shenanigans.
This has taken the country by surprise to find out that the opposition political leaders who hitherto did not see Zanu-PF leaders as good people have just started to call others their favourite freedom fighters. The move by the opposition political leaders to quickly join hands in blaming the First Lady for exposing those who are corrupt in the ruling party makes people conclude that what she said was true.
While the country is waiting for the response from the suspected Zanu-PF leader accused of fanning factionalism and also behind the formation of the opposition political parties, the opposition political leaders have strongly come in full force to defend the Vice-President Dr Joice Mujuru as an innocent and straightforward politician. The opposition leaders are now up in arms against the First Lady for revealing to the nation such information which hitherto was not known to the majority.
Surprisingly, the First Lady did not mention anybody’s name, but she just pointed out the activities that brought Zanu-PF party into disrepute by one of its top leaders and the opposition political parties were quick to mention Vice-President Mujuru as the culprit inferred by the First Lady.
The opposition leaders’ defence of VP Mujuru as innocent and clean for a person to let her house be a host of opposition political parties’ activities shows that there is a story within a story. Their rush of blasting the First Lady’s statements and then supporting the VP makes people also conclude that the VP has more information on how the opposition political parties were formed.
People would want to know why the opposition political parties have just suddenly found it necessary to defend VP Mujuru on the allegations that she is behind all the formations of the opposition political parties instead of the opposition parties celebrating the division that could engulf Zanu-PF following the First Lady’s outbursts against those Zanu-PF top officials fanning factionalism and corruption within the party.
Why is it that some political leaders go on to claim that the First Lady’s alleged accusation of the VP as being behind corruption and the formation of the opposition parties in her house were plans meant to derail the elevation of the VP to the highest position in the country?
Some opposition political leaders have joined the bandwagon of those defending the VP instead of celebrating the demise of Zanu-PF because they have realised that one of their own confidantes has been exposed.
They are quite aware that their plans to destroy Zanu-PF from within has been exposed by the First Lady and now they are crying louder than the grieved as they contemplate to come up with another plan to dislodge Zanu-PF from power.
It is surprising that the opposition political leaders are now singing from the same hymn book as they want to outwit each other in blasting the First Lady’s bold approach in calling a spade by its name. The same people who have now found space and time to blast the First Lady for exposing those destroying the ruling party from within through corruption, factionalism and abuse of office were always in the forefront of blasting Zanu-PF for not taking action when its people were allegedly involved in such shenanigans. It boggles the mind why now the same people are up in arms against the First Lady when she has finally managed to blast those involved in corrupt activities which of late the opposition political parties were calling for the ruling party to act on such vices.
Members of the opposition fronts came on blazing hot against the First Lady over her statements yet the same people could have applauded her for her brave approach in urging those involved in corrupt activities to stop. People like Mr Job Sikhala, Mr Tendai Biti, Prof Lovemore Madhuku and others went on to say that they would declare war against the First Lady over her brave approach of calling a spade a spade but failed to applaud her for calling on Zanu-PF leaders to stop corruption.
Some of us were left dumbfounded by the opposition political leaders’ move of coming together in blasting the First Lady over her remarks when the same people could have been joining the First Lady in blasting top corrupt Zanu- PF leaders. The move taken by the opposition political leaders to cry more than the grieved gives credence to the First Lady’s claim that the main political parties were formed in that house.
While the opposition political parties have found time to blast the First Lady for exposing those destroying the party from within, a lot of people in the country are now behind saying that she has done the country proud by clearly blasting corrupt people. To a lot of people, the First Lady is their heroine that they have been waiting for.
Dr Grace Mugabe has the guts most men do not have because she goes straight to the point and she takes the bull by the horns as she does not fear death from these corrupt men and women with high ranks who have brought the country into confusion. The ones with dirty hands never come out to talk boldly against corrupt activities by top Zanu-PF members because they are not as clean as she is.
So the opposition political leaders should not try to support and accommodate corrupt leaders from Zanu-PF but instead should concentrate more on reviving their declining political fortunes within their parties and let Zanu-PF deal decisively with its people.
Mukachana Hanyani is a Harare-based political analyst.
Online Reporter