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Mukachana Hanyani
NORMALLY I do not always involve myself in issues to do with politics as I am always involved in doing what brings food on my family`s table, but the recent events, where the Zimbabwe National Students Association (Zinasu), came out blazing, blasting the Zimbabwe Congress of Students Union (Zicosu) for supporting the First Lady, Dr. Grace Mugabe`s elevation to head Zanu-PF women`s league at the party’s December 2014 Elective Congress, drove me to write this article.
To start with, Zinasu, as a student representative organisation, the same as Zicosu, is not qualified to attack another organisation as if Zinasu is clean in that regard.
It is a fact that Zinasu has taken upon itself to be there to support opposition politics in the country and for it to forget that simple fact and only to rush into attacking another student representative organisation just because they have differed ideologically is wrong and devoid of actual reasoning.
For those who are not in the picture of why I have decided to pen this article, recently Zinasu attacked Zicosu saying that, Zicosu and its president, Mr Leopold Chakanyuka, should stop abusing students in fighting their personal battles.
Zinasu went further to say that students will only support a democratic person with student issues at heart.
They failed to tell the public the very person who shows that he/she has student issues at heart. Zinasu also failed to tell the people what wrong Zicosu did by supporting the First Lady`s elevation.
On the other hand, Mr Pedzisai Ruhanya, a rabid critic of Zanu-PF and also a former student leader said that the Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe was not elected by bogus organisations such as Zicosu.
Mr Ruhanya went further to say that Zicosu is a political appendage of the political cabal that is running riot in Zanu-PF and that VP Mujuru is not just a Zanu-PF leader but a national leader with impeccable liberation credentials. This fact has no opposition, but people are only surprised by the sudden turn of events from opposition political party activists who are falling over each other in sympathising with the Vice President over allegations of corruption and abuse of office which she is facing.
It is surprising that a person like Mr Ruhanya who is educated and seemingly knowledgeable about the politics of Zimbabwe, could fail to understand and appreciate how the Zimbabwean constitution operates to the extent of exposing his ignorance to the public. For those who are not aware of how the constitution of Zimbabwe operates when it comes to the appointment of the Vice-President in Zimbabwe should not listen to what Mr Ruhanya and company said.
For the record, Vice President, Dr. Joice Mujuru was not elected to that position by anyone but was appointed by President Mugabe to fill the vacancy left behind by the late Vice-President, Dr Simon Muzenda.
Mr. Ruhanya should not mislead Zimbabweans on such important matters. So, he should let facts speak for themselves.
Such facts are clear and straightforward, so Mr. Ruhanya should not confuse such clear facts just because he is possessed by the demon of wanting to attack Zicosu over its support of the First Lady`s elevation to head the women`s league. He should have let facts talk for themselves instead of claiming that the Vice-President was elected by the people of Zimbabwe when it is clear that she was appointed by President Mugabe.
People would want to know when Mr. Ruhanya realised that VP Mujuru is not just a Zanu-PF leader, but a national one with liberation war credentials. Mr. Ruhanya has been criticising anything coming from Zanu-PF and its leadership, but now people are surprised why the same person has come out blazing in support of VP Mujuru when he is the very person who should have been supporting those against alleged corruption and abuse of office by the VP.
It is naïve and surprising for Zinasu and Mr. Ruhanya to attack Zicosu just because it has decided to support Zanu-PF politics. Zicosu has come openly in support of the First Lady`s elevation to head the women`s league and it is its right as an organisation to do so. It is not for Zinasu to tell Zicosu what to and not to do. Zicosu has mature students who can think on their own and to come up with decisions on what to do.
Facts which have noone to dispute are that, Zinasu has been supporting the MDC formations since that party’s formation in 1999, causing other progressive students to have the splinter group calling itself Zicosu. So the leadership of Zinasu still holds grudge against those students who formed Zicosu as they feel that all the students were supposed to be supporting the opposition political parties.
What Zinasu needs to appreciate is that Zicosu is now an independent organisation with its independent constitution which can guide it on its operations. As such, Zinasu should let Zicosu do what it deems relevant.
Mukachana Hanyani is a Harare-based political analyst.
Online Reporter