The veiled lessons from the Zanu PF succession fiasco
By Terence Chimhavi
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| House of chaos - Zanu PF headquarters. |
They may have denied it more than
a thousand times and still continue to do so; but the truth of the matter, now
clear to most people including its staunchest and formerly-unblinking
supporters, is that their collective failure to timeously attend to leadership
succession is costing their party Zanu PF dearly. And by extension, because
they are the ruling government, the country. It is no longer a point for
argument that the Zanu PF succession wars are what is chiefly retarding economic
recovery and national progress in Zimbabwe.
The current pre-occupation of
course is squarely centred on who, between long-time front-runner VP Emmerson
Mnangagwa or Grace Mugabe will take over the reins of head of state from their
increasingly frail nonagenarian leader; which event, judging by the viciousness
of the succession tussles, may not be very long from happening. This is of
course coming after the brutal purging of another front-runner, former VP Joice
Mujuru in late 2014. While the state-controlled media continues to down-play
the extent of the effects of the intense factional fights in Zanu PF, it is the
private media that seems to be setting the agenda – this through their
reporting of the succession battles – where Grace Mugabe (backed by a group
commonly referred to as Generation 40 or G-40 in short) and VP Emmerson
Mnangagwa are increasingly seen in a tussle to succeed President Mugabe.
The import of my short piece
though is not centred on who will eventually win the succession tussle in Zanu
PF – that I content is that party’s business. Rather, I just thought I should
point out three hidden lessons I have discerned, having enjoyed a spectator
role in the hullabaloo that has been the factional fights in the party over
leadership succession.
1. They are all mortals and not
invincible
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| Former VP - fell by the way side. |
The spectacular demise of former
VP Mujuru and her allies, some of whom had occupied the top echelons of power
for so long came as a surprise to many, especially among the ordinary folk. Here
were previously untouchable citizens, whose mere mention of just their names
could easily send chills down the spines of especially the rural folk. Some of
these men and women, in their official capacities in both government and
fronting Zanu PF as a party, are responsible for despicable crimes against the
citizens, all in the name of defending their places at the feeding troughs of
Zanu PF’s patronage system.
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| Didymus Mutasa - a mere man. |
I found it very interesting to
note that despite all the ‘robes’ they wore and the roles they played during
their lengthy reigns of terror, in defence of Zanu PF, these are just ordinary
men and women after all. Which villager in Headlands constituency and indeed
Manicaland as a province could have ever imagined that Dydimus Mutasa could be
reduced from his deity-like status to an ordinary man? Or who could have
imagined that Nicholas Goche could be forced to attend a Zanu PF rally as an
ordinary citizen, sharing the tent-less grounds away from the podium with the ordinary
folk’, and taking turns to wipe rivulets of sweat with the ordinary citizens? It
just then rings in your mind, as aptly put across in the old adage – fear not
the owl’s horns, for they are just feathery ears. And indeed, it just affirmed
that the ‘mighty robes’ they wore were borrowed.
2. Zanu PF has no clear ideology –
it is all about staying in power at whatever cost
I also found it worth noting, as
a student of our national history, that over the years, it has not really been
ideological direction or clarity that has driven Zanu PF and its stay in power
since 1980. Rather, it has been all about defending their grip on state power
and the privileges that come with its exercise. Despite the fact that Zanu PF
assumed power in 1980 with a clear mandate of what the masses that supported
the liberation struggle wanted to be addressed – chiefly, this revolved around
the land question where redistribution was of paramount importance; the
equitable distribution and use of national resources for the benefit of all
citizens; and the right to self-determination, particularly through universal
suffrage – the truth of the matter is that this mandate from the people has
systematically been discarded, and a new ‘either
you are with us or you do not benefit’ paradigm has been adopted, and is
what to this day has largely sustained the ruling party and its grip on power.
| Zanu PF ideology post1980 no longer clear. |
It is now apparent that despite
claims to the contrary Zanu PF never really cared about giving the land back to
the landless black majority. Indeed, it was the apparent agitation from the
masses and the threat posed by the newly formed opposition in 2000, which
resulted in the knee-jerk reaction that gave us the fast-track land reform
program. This will be confirmed through the hap-hazard manner and elitist
allocation that did and continues to characterize the program. Even the talk of
indigenization is not really about empowering the black masses but rather as we
now know, is all about entrenching the patronage system through which the party
continues to retain political power. Thus, we are now sure that Zanu PF has no
real ideology that it stands for except that they seek to stay in power in
eternal perpetuity. Tichingotonga, tichingotonga,
tichingotonga.
3. Succession is only natural and
must therefore be planned for.
The current tussle apparent in
Zanu PF as they head for the Victoria Falls 2015 Annual People’s Conference – where an
increasingly agitated G-40 or the ‘Young Turks’ in the party are beginning to
openly show their own ambition for power in the face of spirited efforts by the
old guard to safeguard top leadership of the party amongst the old members –
has in my view worked to confirm two things.
Firstly that the old guard in Zanu PF,
especially at leadership level seem naïve to the fact that leadership is not
exercised to eternity, but rather should be passed on from time to time, where
the older folk pass on the leadership baton to the younger generation. The talk
that a person with no liberation war credentials will never rule this country
betrays a dangerous level of naivety that cannot be ignored. Only a fool will
assure themselves that those who actively fought for the liberation of this
country will always be there to exercise political power. That is a falacy.
| G-40 - tired of waiting in the shadows. |
Secondly, that despite blind
conformity and allegiance to an untenable system, there are a significant
number of people in Zanu PF, at both leadership and ordinary member levels, who
are level-headed enough to note that things have gone wrong with regards
succession in the party. And despite a heavy and iron hand to keep all
dissension in check, plots and counter-plots are the order of the day, as
individuals and groups scheme day and night to address a problem they publicly
deny exists – that of the succession conundrum. How the succession debacle
eventually pans out remains to be seen, but we may have already become witnesses to the end of days of this former
liberation movement.
And slowly but surely, the
succession chickens are coming home to roost.
The writer writes here in his personal capacity and can be contacted on tchimhavi@gmail.com
