News / National
Prominent politicians fighting to take control of Zanu PF, future looks gloomy- Mutodi
15 Feb 2016 at 06:02hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe' staunch supporter Energy Mutodi has said a murky future for Zimbabwe is slowly manifesting itself, with prominent politicians fighting to take total control of Zanu PF and struggling to position themselves to take over from Mugabe who looks set to inevitably leave office in the foreseeable future.
In his long article Mutodi said "After the decapitation of Joice Mujuru, President Mugabe's decade long deputy in December 2014, the ruling Zanu PF party has not experienced peace as a new wave of fighting has erupted involving a freshly born Generation 40 faction being led by the duo of Professor Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere and supported by First Lady Grace Mugabe pitted against what has become known as a Team Lacoste faction, presumably led by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and composed of mainly conservatives among them war veterans who fought in the country's war of independence from Britain."
"Whilst the two factions are different in many ways, it is common knowledge that both are fighting a succession war, with each faction hoping to come out as the winner whenever the President finally retires from office."
Mutodi said for team Lacoste, Ngwena (Emmerson Mnangagwa's affectionate name) is the man whom all believe can lead the country to the promised land which the current government has dismally failed to do due to its tribalism tendencies, corruption, intolerance of new ideas, willful disrespect of fundamental human rights, patronage and maintaining an arrogant and inflexible foreign policy.
"Whilst president Mugabe has been successful in championing africanism and sovereignty of Zimbabwe among other social issues such as promoting primary and secondary school education, he has failed on the economic front as the country is now broke with no local currency, no manufacturing, no productivity on farms and virtually no employment for the youths," he said.
"The government is also struggling to pay its workers and there is no hope that the economy can be revived under President Mugabe's rule. During the 2013 elections, the ruling party promised that it would provide at least 2 million jobs but this has remained a nightmare."
He said thousands of workers have instead lost their jobs and many desperate Zimbabweans continue to flock to South Africa seeking whatever job opportunity can arise, raising tension with that country's youths who occasionally unleash xenophobic violence on the immigrants, accusing them of depriving them of job opportunities.
"The levels of unemployment, under-employment and under-utilization of skills is alarming. Only a few lucky persons are Ministers and heads of parastatals and lead fantastic lives at the expense of the majority, driving expensive cars and living in star hotels. The rest are wallowing in poverty," Mutodi said.
"For bigwigs who have tested the life of being ministers, life is hard outside ZANU PF because the economy is dead and doesn't allow any form of business to succeed. Even for private businesspeople, risk is high as government continues to block foreign direct investment by passing dubious indigenization laws and failing to support local innovation. Per-capita incomes are below poverty datum and urban poverty is increasing."
The fire brand politician cum musician said meanwhile, President Mugabe has continuously reshuffled a cabinet line up of incompetent people, more than half of it being of a Zezuru origin that uses ministerial appointments as an opportunity to plunder public resources and loot from parastatals, investing the money overseas.
"Due to the economic hardships, Zimbabweans are no longer proud of their own country and no longer have faith in the Zanu PF leadership. The man whom they had put faith in to bring about political freedom for economic prosperity has taken them down a garden path and many loot, kill and rape in his name. Some politicians have even described themselves as political thugs because they have access to the state security machinery which they clandestinely use to terrorize their political foes. It is under these circumstances that support for a competent successor to take over from President Mugabe is growing," he said.
He said on the other hand, the G40 team, composed of mainly opportunists and liberation war deserters has many presidential aspirants among them Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, Jonathan Moyo, Grace Mugabe, Patrick Zhuwawo and Saviour Kasukuwere.
"The faction sees a gap to achieve power if President Mugabe is incapacitated or dies in office. But they must first use him to remove his fellow war comrades who may successfully compete against them. They have no liberation war credentials so they must make sure everyone with those credentials is disqualified while the president is still in office," Mutodi said.
"Their faction's biggest advantage is that some of its members are very close to the President and can therefore influence him to make irrational decisions such as the on-going thoughtless expulsions, suspensions and votes of no confidence against trusted party cadres."
"In his old age, President Mugabe has nothing much to worry about except what he already has and his family. The G40 knows this and to make him panic and act against his long time allies and loyalists, they have now created a storm in a tea-cup, setting up fictions and portraying Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa as an enemy of the first family and even going on to stage manage certain things, and skimming all sorts of tricks to steal power," he added.
Mutodi said these are the same people who painted a bad image of former deputy President Joice Mujuru and caused her expulsion from the party when all of us thought just a demotion would suffice. He said Mujuru had interfered with lower party structures by imposing candidates for parliamentary elections and also seemingly promoting a zezuru hegemony against the expectations of a national leader who must defend the rights of all citizens at all cost.
"She was also rightfully accused of promoting corruption and her allies notoriously interfered with the judicial services and the police in her name.
When First Lady Grace Mugabe entered the political scene, the people thought she was out to end factionalism and discrimination of party members on tribal grounds. However, this has not happened. Instead, she has sided with an unwanted clique, accused of being gay and spying for the Americans who seek to destroy Zanu PF from within and end its 36-year old rule by isolating President Mugabe from his ring-fencing loyalists such as Emmerson Mnangagwa.," he said.
"The First Lady has failed to make an impact politically and is making risky decisions that could make her a monumental failure. First, the decision to join the G40 faction was not a rational one as the probability of it producing a president is extremely slim. The faction faces an indomitable resistance within and outside Zanu PF. It also has no takers in both the military and the CIO and among Zimbabweans in their right state of mind."
Mutodi said within its establishment, there are snakes and hyenas who are waiting for the opportune time to strike their target. Their hate for the President is abundantly clear. He said Jonathan Moyo is a well known critic of President Mugabe and ZANU PF and similarly Mphoko's close friends such as former Botswana President Festus Mogae have branded the President a tyrant and a self-serving dictator.
"One wonders what he would be discussing with such people when they meet in their private business meetings besides destroying the party from within.
As entrepreneurs, we have learnt to make decisions under uncertainty, risk and on rare cases under certainty and we expect seasoned politicians to do the same. The First Lady was supposed to consider the fact that whatever decisions she is making now, she is doing them under uncertainty and four tried and tested approaches of maximax, minimax, laplace and minimax regret apply," Mutodi said.
"There is no payoff that a normal person can expect from the current political situation as information is not perfect and error margins are high. It is too early for her to associate with any faction at the moment. Under these circumstances, she should have gone for a maximax approach, tolerating divergent views, listening to each and every constructive idea and uniting waring factions."
He said probably, it may not be too late for her to make a U-turn and do the right thing.
"She knows the states of nature that lie ahead. An evidently clear one is that there will be a successor to President Mugabe, whether we like or hate it. Further splitting that condition means that we expect a successor to come either from Zanu PF or from outside Zanu PF through the opposition and the probabilities can be equal if not in favor of the later," he said.
"If the ongoing bickering continues, the First Lady risks a situation where a successor comes without her backing and there lies all the hell for her interests. Poor decision making in politics is suicidal. All this talk about successionists will fall away. Succession is an inevitable reality just like life and death. You can't avoid it but you can only shape and direct it in your best and feasible interest.
Yes there are some people who say we know everything, we are professors of politics and we have experience but if you really look at them and reason with them you will see that they know nothing."
He said it's better to be a diploma holder in a proper field than to be a professor of politics.
"A political science degree is for the less-privileged. It's a degree for high school rejects. No wonder why you see them back in school in their old ages. All they know is to parcel out hate speech that does not unite people. Educated people are polite and diplomatic and the best political scientists are the ordinary people.
In light of the situation that is currently obtaining in the party, it is advisable for President Mugabe to liberalize succession talk and let all those who are aspiring for the office of President to come out clear and openly campaign," Mutodi said. Anyone who thinks is good enough to be a president should come in the open. One thing that is certain if this happens is that all the four G40 masterminds will line up. However, if the President wishes to stay on until 2023, then some miracles have to be worked out to rescue the economy."
Mutodi is a Doctor of Business Administration degree student at the University of Cape Town. He is a member of Zanu PF.
In his long article Mutodi said "After the decapitation of Joice Mujuru, President Mugabe's decade long deputy in December 2014, the ruling Zanu PF party has not experienced peace as a new wave of fighting has erupted involving a freshly born Generation 40 faction being led by the duo of Professor Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere and supported by First Lady Grace Mugabe pitted against what has become known as a Team Lacoste faction, presumably led by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and composed of mainly conservatives among them war veterans who fought in the country's war of independence from Britain."
"Whilst the two factions are different in many ways, it is common knowledge that both are fighting a succession war, with each faction hoping to come out as the winner whenever the President finally retires from office."
Mutodi said for team Lacoste, Ngwena (Emmerson Mnangagwa's affectionate name) is the man whom all believe can lead the country to the promised land which the current government has dismally failed to do due to its tribalism tendencies, corruption, intolerance of new ideas, willful disrespect of fundamental human rights, patronage and maintaining an arrogant and inflexible foreign policy.
"Whilst president Mugabe has been successful in championing africanism and sovereignty of Zimbabwe among other social issues such as promoting primary and secondary school education, he has failed on the economic front as the country is now broke with no local currency, no manufacturing, no productivity on farms and virtually no employment for the youths," he said.
"The government is also struggling to pay its workers and there is no hope that the economy can be revived under President Mugabe's rule. During the 2013 elections, the ruling party promised that it would provide at least 2 million jobs but this has remained a nightmare."
He said thousands of workers have instead lost their jobs and many desperate Zimbabweans continue to flock to South Africa seeking whatever job opportunity can arise, raising tension with that country's youths who occasionally unleash xenophobic violence on the immigrants, accusing them of depriving them of job opportunities.
"The levels of unemployment, under-employment and under-utilization of skills is alarming. Only a few lucky persons are Ministers and heads of parastatals and lead fantastic lives at the expense of the majority, driving expensive cars and living in star hotels. The rest are wallowing in poverty," Mutodi said.
"For bigwigs who have tested the life of being ministers, life is hard outside ZANU PF because the economy is dead and doesn't allow any form of business to succeed. Even for private businesspeople, risk is high as government continues to block foreign direct investment by passing dubious indigenization laws and failing to support local innovation. Per-capita incomes are below poverty datum and urban poverty is increasing."
The fire brand politician cum musician said meanwhile, President Mugabe has continuously reshuffled a cabinet line up of incompetent people, more than half of it being of a Zezuru origin that uses ministerial appointments as an opportunity to plunder public resources and loot from parastatals, investing the money overseas.
"Due to the economic hardships, Zimbabweans are no longer proud of their own country and no longer have faith in the Zanu PF leadership. The man whom they had put faith in to bring about political freedom for economic prosperity has taken them down a garden path and many loot, kill and rape in his name. Some politicians have even described themselves as political thugs because they have access to the state security machinery which they clandestinely use to terrorize their political foes. It is under these circumstances that support for a competent successor to take over from President Mugabe is growing," he said.
He said on the other hand, the G40 team, composed of mainly opportunists and liberation war deserters has many presidential aspirants among them Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, Jonathan Moyo, Grace Mugabe, Patrick Zhuwawo and Saviour Kasukuwere.
"The faction sees a gap to achieve power if President Mugabe is incapacitated or dies in office. But they must first use him to remove his fellow war comrades who may successfully compete against them. They have no liberation war credentials so they must make sure everyone with those credentials is disqualified while the president is still in office," Mutodi said.
"Their faction's biggest advantage is that some of its members are very close to the President and can therefore influence him to make irrational decisions such as the on-going thoughtless expulsions, suspensions and votes of no confidence against trusted party cadres."
"In his old age, President Mugabe has nothing much to worry about except what he already has and his family. The G40 knows this and to make him panic and act against his long time allies and loyalists, they have now created a storm in a tea-cup, setting up fictions and portraying Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa as an enemy of the first family and even going on to stage manage certain things, and skimming all sorts of tricks to steal power," he added.
Mutodi said these are the same people who painted a bad image of former deputy President Joice Mujuru and caused her expulsion from the party when all of us thought just a demotion would suffice. He said Mujuru had interfered with lower party structures by imposing candidates for parliamentary elections and also seemingly promoting a zezuru hegemony against the expectations of a national leader who must defend the rights of all citizens at all cost.
"She was also rightfully accused of promoting corruption and her allies notoriously interfered with the judicial services and the police in her name.
When First Lady Grace Mugabe entered the political scene, the people thought she was out to end factionalism and discrimination of party members on tribal grounds. However, this has not happened. Instead, she has sided with an unwanted clique, accused of being gay and spying for the Americans who seek to destroy Zanu PF from within and end its 36-year old rule by isolating President Mugabe from his ring-fencing loyalists such as Emmerson Mnangagwa.," he said.
"The First Lady has failed to make an impact politically and is making risky decisions that could make her a monumental failure. First, the decision to join the G40 faction was not a rational one as the probability of it producing a president is extremely slim. The faction faces an indomitable resistance within and outside Zanu PF. It also has no takers in both the military and the CIO and among Zimbabweans in their right state of mind."
Mutodi said within its establishment, there are snakes and hyenas who are waiting for the opportune time to strike their target. Their hate for the President is abundantly clear. He said Jonathan Moyo is a well known critic of President Mugabe and ZANU PF and similarly Mphoko's close friends such as former Botswana President Festus Mogae have branded the President a tyrant and a self-serving dictator.
"One wonders what he would be discussing with such people when they meet in their private business meetings besides destroying the party from within.
As entrepreneurs, we have learnt to make decisions under uncertainty, risk and on rare cases under certainty and we expect seasoned politicians to do the same. The First Lady was supposed to consider the fact that whatever decisions she is making now, she is doing them under uncertainty and four tried and tested approaches of maximax, minimax, laplace and minimax regret apply," Mutodi said.
"There is no payoff that a normal person can expect from the current political situation as information is not perfect and error margins are high. It is too early for her to associate with any faction at the moment. Under these circumstances, she should have gone for a maximax approach, tolerating divergent views, listening to each and every constructive idea and uniting waring factions."
He said probably, it may not be too late for her to make a U-turn and do the right thing.
"She knows the states of nature that lie ahead. An evidently clear one is that there will be a successor to President Mugabe, whether we like or hate it. Further splitting that condition means that we expect a successor to come either from Zanu PF or from outside Zanu PF through the opposition and the probabilities can be equal if not in favor of the later," he said.
"If the ongoing bickering continues, the First Lady risks a situation where a successor comes without her backing and there lies all the hell for her interests. Poor decision making in politics is suicidal. All this talk about successionists will fall away. Succession is an inevitable reality just like life and death. You can't avoid it but you can only shape and direct it in your best and feasible interest.
Yes there are some people who say we know everything, we are professors of politics and we have experience but if you really look at them and reason with them you will see that they know nothing."
He said it's better to be a diploma holder in a proper field than to be a professor of politics.
"A political science degree is for the less-privileged. It's a degree for high school rejects. No wonder why you see them back in school in their old ages. All they know is to parcel out hate speech that does not unite people. Educated people are polite and diplomatic and the best political scientists are the ordinary people.
In light of the situation that is currently obtaining in the party, it is advisable for President Mugabe to liberalize succession talk and let all those who are aspiring for the office of President to come out clear and openly campaign," Mutodi said. Anyone who thinks is good enough to be a president should come in the open. One thing that is certain if this happens is that all the four G40 masterminds will line up. However, if the President wishes to stay on until 2023, then some miracles have to be worked out to rescue the economy."
Mutodi is a Doctor of Business Administration degree student at the University of Cape Town. He is a member of Zanu PF.
Source - Byo24News
