Mnangagwa's hard choices: Grace Mugabe to rule Zimbabwe by 2019

Former Zanu-PF stalwart and now National People's Party (NPP) chairman, Dzikamai Mavhaire has given Emmerson Mnangagwa four options now that he has been fired from Government but cautioned Zimbabweans not to expect too much from him.

Mavhaire told The Mirror in an interview on Tuesday that the belief held by many that Mnangagwa will use the Army to fight his dismissal was just a mirage as top Army commanders themselves are at the mercy of President Mugabe because their contracts are expiring soon.

Meanwhile, Mavhaire said Mugabe has a grand plan through which Grace should ascend to the Presidency of the country by 2019 or 2020, just two years after the 2018 elections.

Mavhaire said that there are four things that Mnangagwa can do which are to pack his bags and leave quietly as he has done in similar situations in the past; to join opposition political parties: to form his own political party or to retire from politics and influence things from the background particularly in his Midlands Province.

He said the most likely option was that Mnangagwa will go away quietly and hope that Mugabe will bring him back to the fold when the situation suits him.

Mavhaire said that he had over the years known Mnangagwa to be a coward who is not expected to fight back Mugabe. Part of the evidence of his cowardice is the way he was humiliated at seven different interface rallies and this happened right in front of his wife, said Mavhaire.

"I don't sympathise with Mnangagwa but what Mugabe did to him was wrong. Mnangagwa's wife is also an idiot for allowing her husband to be humiliated at nine different rallies without protecting his dignity somehow," said Mavhaire.
Mavhaire said Mnangagwa may form his own political party but his problem is that he has never been a popular leader.

He said a viable option for Mnangagwa if he does not quietly retreat to his farm is to join the coalition of opposition political parties and be one of the leaders. He said Mnangagwa must not aspire to lead such a coalition but to become just one of the leaders.

Mavhaire added that a coalition between his party and Tsvangirai was likely because the issues that separate NPP and MDC T were thin. He said if it was not because of some leaders within Tsvangirai's party who are too ambitious an agreement would have been reached long back between Mujuru and Tsvangirai.

He said that it is to such a coalition that Mnangagwa can come and become one of the leaders.

"It is more difficult not to reach a coalition agreement among political parties than to reach an agreement. Joining such a coalition is the most viable option for Mnangagwa," said Mavhaire.

Turning to the military option and the war veterans, Mavhaire said that there was nothing that was going to come out of the Army and war veterans to help Mnangagwa. He said coups in any country are not carried out by commanders but soldiers at the level of Colonels and below and Mnangagwa's support was at the level of generals. He also said that the population of war veterans in the Army has become so thin that it is in significant to rally support for Mnangagwa.

"Soldiers will not give Mnangagwa any backing except to plead with Mugabe to fire him after next year's elections. The war veterans will buck like dogs for two weeks and after that they will return to their usual life and in any case the war veterans number is now so small that they were not more than 20 000.

"Mugabe has changed strategy. He used war veterans for campaigns in the past and has finished with them and he doesn't need them anymore. His foot soldiers in the next elections are the youth and the women. The war veterans will buck in support of Mnangagwa for two weeks and everything dies down," said Mavhaire.

Mavhaire said that Mnangagwa's dismissal has been part of Mugabe grand plan to pave way for his wife to become President of Zimbabwe by 2019 or 2020. He said Mugabe's first plot was to remove Mujuru because Zimbabwe could not have two women Vice Presidents.