Baba Jukwa plot thickens

It would be an understatement to say the Baba Jukwa saga is shaping up to be the runaway news story of the year 2014.

Just as one is tempted to think this mega political soapie would fizzle out, it is getting juicier and nastier almost by the hour, thus threatening to cause ginormous seismic vibrations in President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party and the State media, as it may also curtail the careers of many a prominent people in government and journalism.

While it has been titillating to watch for many analysts and the generality of Zimbabweans, there is little doubt that the conspiracy has become a painful and royal mess for all concerned; right up from Mugabe to lesser-known players like the incarcerated Sunday Mail editor Edmund Kudzayi, who has officially been identified as Amai Jukwa.

And after Chronicle editor Mduduzi Mathuthu's Monday polemic, it is really getting murkier as attempts by those associated or are privy to plans of managing, diffusing and pre-empting this serious matter risk further compromising some of the alleged players, if not kingpins.

If this stratagem was a football contest, it would surely be akin to Spain's world-famous El Classico - that mouth-watering and titanic encounter between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

In trying to unpack this "complex plot", there is little doubt that at the heart of all this is the ruling party's ugly succession fights and concomitant battles for access to resources, which have seen a number of the Zimbabwean leader's lieutenants scheming openly and covertly to succeed the nonagenarian through both fair, and foul means.

And as is always the case - where there is war - the truth becomes the first causality, and just as the holding and manipulation of information is also associated with power.

This is true of our country today, with many of these ambitious charlatans engaging in massive propaganda wars that have sucked in all arms of government - from law enforcement agents to the State media, including the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and Zimbabwe Newspapers, which houses The Herald and The Chronicle.

And in my view, this is the genesis of Jukwa-gate and why Information minister Jonathan Moyo recently got a vicious mauling from Mugabe.

Ditto Kudzayi's arrest last week and the 10-day suspension of a senior ZBC manager for allegedly failing to air bulletins on time.

While the former's seizure and detention was not surprising, it was the dramatic - and unprecedented - execution by law enforcement agents that has left many in the state media numb as such treatment has often been reserved for those working in the private media.

And for a man who put in some hard yards for the ex-liberation war movement in the run-up to July 2013's disputed elections, one must also spare a thought for this stricken 28-year-old fellow.

By leaving his relatively comfy base in the United Kingdom to work for Zanu PF, Kudzayi made "huge sacrifices" that probably saw him being rewarded with the Sunday Mail editorship, despite his relative youth and obvious lack of journalistic experience.

Now enter Mathuthu, the founding NewZimbabwe.com editor and another former exile.

After springing to Kudzayi's defence in The Herald this week, many have been left wondering whether the Chronicle editor had in fact done his Zimpapers peer any good or caused his case substantial damage.

And amid swirling concerns that State media bosses were being parachuted on factional lines in Zanu PF, it remains to be seen whether Mathuthu's epistle has strengthened his masters' interests or actually weakened them in these turbulent times.

Apart from outing Kudzayi as Amai Jukwa, the equally notorious social media equivalent of Baba Jukwa, the net effect of the former British-based scribe's contribution to the whole saga was to vouch for his distressed counterpart that he was not the Baba Jukwa who had caused so much pain, and havoc in Zanu PF.

This also comes as the Sunday Mail editor has revealed that he had done some consultancy work for the Defence ministry.

In the meantime, the Sunday Mail editor is facing serious sedition charges, but some in the statecraft are taking it in their stride.

Crucially, Mathuthu not only took credit for popularising Amai Jukwa, but also exposed Moyo for his role in "approving" state media appointments and at a time these actions have proven to be a sore point for Mugabe, and other Zanu PF bigwigs like Didymus Mutasa.

And many readers will recall that it was not just Baba Jukwa who had tormented some Zanu PF officials, but Amai Jukwa had also ruffled some feathers in the upper echelons of the party - with many seeing the then faceless character as a patently factional and divisive "cyber terrorist".

It, therefore, beggars the question as to why State functionaries would reveal "Mrs" Jukwa now and also go on to associate "her" with Moyo?

Surely, people must know that this not only exposes Kudzayi to further political scrutiny and at a time the Sunday Mail is in the doo-doo, but also potentially fuel Zanu PF infighting.

And while many are wondering about how this gripping Zanu PF soapie will, and who will come out victor in the end, it also quite clear that after Moyo's public shellacking from Mugabe, the hounds are still out and smelling blood.

As it is, only time will tell and those outside Zanu PF can only sit back, and enjoy the spectacle!