Mugabe has survived because of his cunningness

While Robert Mugabe has managed to live a long life because of discipline and access to good medical care, analysts said politically he has survived because of his cunningness.
Political analyst, Alois Masepe said from 1980 to 1990, Mugabe and Zanu-PF survived because they were still enjoying a "political honeymoon" as independence was still a new phenomenon in the country.
He said the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo's Zapu was put out of the system as a potential opposition by the signing of the 1987 Unity Accord with Zanu-PF.
"Zapu was bludgeoned and beaten into retreat and submission, resulting in the Unity Accord," said the political analyst.
He said the formation of the Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) by Edgar Tekere in 1989 signalled the end of the political honeymoon. But Masepe said ZUM did not make an impact because at that time people were either unwilling or did not yet understand opposition politics.
Masepe said in the 1980s and 1990s, Mugabe was also surviving because the country was a defacto one-party state with a very powerful President making all executive decisions.
"Politically he was surviving mostly by crook and foul up to the point of the formation of the inclusive government in 2009. It is also by crook that political negotiations gave rise to the formation of this GNU because the 2008 elections were stolen and no one recognised them," he said.
Another political analyst, Thabani Nyoni said centralisation of power, the use of divide and rule and politics of patronage where loyalists are rewarded and opponents ruthlessly punished, ensured Mugabe's political survival.
George Makoni, another political analyst, said Mugabe managed to blend dirty tactics with diplomacy for his survival. He said these included suppression of dissenting voices, citing as an example the case of Matabeleland and Midlands in the early 1980s, where the North Korea trained Fifth Brigade was deployed to crackdown on suspected dissent elements, but ended up killing an estimated 20 000 innocent civilians.
Makoni said during the inclusive government, Mugabe championed calls for peace and co-existence more than anyone else. He said when the MDCs were concentrating more on government; Mugabe was busy devising strategies which would make him win the July 31 elections.
Makoni said Mugabe also successfully managed to get the sympathy of Sadc and the African Union where he now holds influential positions.
"He has the art of reading how best to overcome a given political challenge and where there is a mess, he can easily clean it in the eyes of those who matter in the world," said the community development activist.
But Makoni said old age had finally caught up with him and it will be a miracle for him to still be fit come 2018.
"He is likely to retire before 2018. Vice-President Joice Mujuru is now literary running the show with the President always on the plane, going for treatment. He cannot defy nature," he said.
But other analysts said Mugabe was now pre-occupied with ensuring that he leaves a lasting legacy, hence his recent talk on economic empowerment and fighting corruption.