Zanu-PF is a subculture of demonic evil

I have often wondered what it would have been like if my great, great, great grand-father; who, until that very moment had only seen the distorted image of his own reflection in pool of water and told so and so looked like him; was given a mirror so he saw his image, warts and all, for the very first time! Stuart Doran's piece in the Strategist left me feeling exactly what I had often imagined my great ancestor confronted and confounded with his known but never seen self would have felt.

"Zimbabwe is what it is because of a political subculture, centred on the ruling party, that has hegemony and subjugation as its highest ideals. Violence, disdain, paranoia and plunder are among its natural progeny. It is fundamentally antithetical to genuine political competition, dissent and notions of stewardship," wrote Doran.

"The attitudes and instincts that together comprise the culture are audible at every turn, if we are tuned to the right frequency. Asked during a trip to Ethiopia about the numerous allegations of rape during the recent crackdown, Mnangagwa retorted: ‘It's all stage-managed. We are challenging anybody, anybody, local or foreign, to produce the women, so that the world can see them, and say this is what happened.'

"Regarding the killings: ‘We'd want to see evidence. We see all this in social media. But we'd want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed. Where were they buried?' And then the sterile references to external manipulation; the protests were part of ‘a regime change agenda which is not new'.

"Back at home, speaking at a rural rally, he went on: ‘Those who we fought during the liberation struggle, the whites, are still fighting so they can claim power again … Our enemies are not resting.' But, away from the international glare, he was unable to restrain the urge to brag. ‘We don't want violence, so I said soldiers go and silence these people, they were silenced.' Protestors were of ‘Legion'—a multitude of demons—and the government would ‘sort them out … We will crush our enemies, and they are being crushed.'"

For decades I thought I knew and understood Zanu-PF and its leaders; I have often described the leaders as incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thugs. My description was but a rough sketch of the regime, Stuart Doran's description was the three D exact image complete with the bad-breath. Doran's mirror has allowed us to see the Zanu-PF monster Zanu-PF, ugly and mean, but to peek into the black and cold recess of its evil soul!

Mnangagwa and his Zanu-PF thugs are incompetent, corrupt and pure evil; they have no redeeming feature and, after 39 years of tyrannical rule and looting all they want to do now continue in their evil ways, they are beyond the pale.

"It's not going to make any real difference if Mnangagwa, or Chiwenga, or any of their fellow travellers, rule—much as it's made little difference that Mugabe has gone. Lest we forget: as long as the generation of supremacist nationalists and its proselytes remain, so will the mindset," concluded Stuart Doran.

"For those occasions when the cut, thrust and chaos of current events may seek to distract and confuse, both part-time analysts of Zimbabwe and those who hope to be more should leave a note to self in a prominent place: ‘It's the subculture, stupid.'"

The single most important task before us today is to pressure Zanu-PF to step down but all the regime has been doing and will continue to do is drag the whole nation deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth it has landed us into. Mnangagwa et al will never reform nor will they ever give up power because it is not in the DNA of hardened thugs like them to reform or give up power.

Zanu-PF must be pressured to step down to create the political space for the appointment of an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the demonic subculture the party has fostered on the nation. This is the only way out of this mess!

(To see Stuart Doran's full article visit aspistrategist.org.au/zimbabwe-its-the-subculture-stupid)