Biti warns of implosion in 2018

Former Finance minister and People's Democratic Party (PDP) president Tendai Biti has warned of the army's involvement in next year's elections and a possible implosion directly linked to the volatile Zanu-PF succession wars.

Biti said this at a Sapes Trust-organised post-liberation southern Africa programme conference on Zimbabwe in Transition: Reform and Reconstruction.

"For me the biggest challenge of 2018, is not a stolen election . . . the biggest challenge of 2018 is the physical implosion of this country that may arise out of encroachment by certain components in the army in civilian territory . . .," he said, adding that the idea of the involvement by the army gives him a nightmare.

His sentiment comes after the military issued a chilling warning to Cabinet minister and politburo member Jonathan Moyo over his criticism of a government-sponsored Command Agriculture programme.

The warnings by the army are seen in the broader picture of the factional fights within Zanu-PF. The army is seen to have a large voice in who will take over from President Robert Mugabe.

The Zanu-PF party is deeply divided on who should succeed 93-year-old Mugabe, who is set to stand as a presidential candidate in next year's elections.

Amid these divisions, two stark groups have emerged, Generation 40 (G40) and Mnangagwa's alleged Team Lacoste.

And as the country draws closer to the elections, the stakes are now high with each camp leaving no stone unturned in its quest to outwit the other.

Biti — who was part of the panel including former vice president, who is now the National People's Party (NPP) president Joice Mujuru, former Finance minister and Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn president Simba Makoni and Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa — said that Zimbabwe is now a broken state owing to corruption and Mugabe's bad leadership.

MDC vice president Nelson Chamisa, Zanu-PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo and Welshman Ncube, who were also part of the panel, failed to attend the conference.

The lawyer by profession said that Zimbabwe is a corrupt country, adding that people need to converge on a common vision, if ever they dream of removing Mugabe from office.

"Our politics has been personalised and when you personalise politics, you create little big men. Mugabe is a little big man, he runs this country by cohesion, capture and corruption . . . and has nothing to offer . . . ," Biti said.

Like all the other speakers, Biti expressed high chances of succeeding under a coalition of opposition political parties.

"We need to have some modicum of reforms, particularly as we go towards 2018. . . this time we talk about the establishment of an independent electoral management body for the drafting of a new voters' roll . . .," he said.

The other speakers all agreed that the issue of positions is not any necessary in the mooted coalition, adding that advocating for change was the only priority.

Makoni said people need to focus on what they want not who will lead the coalition.

On the other hand, Mujuru said that she does not care about a position anymore, in a major U-turn from her earlier position that she was the suitable candidate to lead the coalition based on her experience and war credentials.

She said people must come up with ideas to defeat Zanu-PF, building this around a coalition.

" . . . I don't care whether you say Joice should not lead, I have led, I have been a vice president for ten years, I have acted though not executive. But what I want is that which we struggled for before I die. We do not deserve to be where we are," she said.

Dabengwa said that Zimbabwe needs not to be in the current messy that it finds itself in, nearly four decades after independence.

He said that they did not fight oppression to renew oppressors, adding that there must be a provision of clear alternatives.

He further castigated the country's Land Reform Programme, which he said was implemented in a manner opposite from the agreed recommendations.