Opinion / Columnist
Chiwenga Christian coup to restore dictatorship 'Restore legacy' - surreal Zim politics
21 Nov 2017 at 09:49hrs | Views
"Surreal" means "having the qualities of surrealism: strange, bizarre." There is an aura of strange and twisted reality, surreality, in Zimbabwe, especially the last two weeks.
For anyone who had been on one of those sabbaticals where he or she is cut-off completely from the outside world and turned on their TV to be greeted by none other than "WhatApp" Minister Patrick Chinamasa announcing that "R G Mugabe has been removed as First Secretary of Zanu PF and will be impeached if he does not resign his post as President of Zimbabwe"! The announcement is being made at Zanu PF HQ and, guess what, it is none other than a whole troop of Zanu PF buffoons cheering and applauding.
Here is the man, Chinamasa, who has spent his working life grooving to Mugabe calling the tyrant "His Excellency, The Right Honourable President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and First Secretary of Zanu PF, Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe," with an air of one who did not dare leave out even one syllable. And the buffoons are cheering the news, they cannot contain themselves with excitement!
"Vadzi wadzisa!" (They are smoking too much weed!) would have been the observer's instinct reaction to this surreal spectacle!
After 37 years as the head of both his party, Zanu PF, and Zimbabwe, which he ruled with an iron fist Mugabe had become permanent fixture in Zimbabwe. The tyrant was so cocksure of his own continued rule he even boasted that God alone would remove him from office. All that had suddenly changed when a posse of Army Generals they had seize control of the country and he was under house arrest.
For 37 years Mugabe had successful resist regime-change and in the blink of an eye change was staring him straight in the eyes.
Last night it was the whole nation and the world at large which confounded by another surreal two hours. Everyone was told Mugabe was going to announce his resignation. He read his speech, surrounded by the top brass in the security services, holding him captive. It was a long rumbling speech in which he talked about presiding over Zanu PF's congress in three weeks' time, the coming rainy season, etc. He said nothing about resigning!
His own Zanu PF cronies who have been as unquestioning royal to him as dogs for four decades had finally broken the spell and removed him from his post as party leader. How can he still preside over the party's congress?
The posse of Army Generals sitting next to him were the coup plotters and not guests he had invited for a cup of tea and they wanted him to resign. How can he then be wittering about the rain season as if this was a perfectly normal situation?
If General Chiwenga thought he was going to help make sense of the puzzling events of the last two weeks in the statement he realised today; he was wrong.
"Meetings with His Excellency, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe have gone on in an atmosphere of mutual respect and several guarantees have been made. As your Defence and Security Services, we remain seized with the operation code named "Operation Restore Legacy". We are confident to take our beloved country out of its present circumstances and set it on the desired development trajectory.
General Chiwenga let me tell you in plain language that even a child can understand. Zimbabwe is in a complete mess economically and politically. And everything you and your fellow coup plotters have done and are doing will not set the country on a development path but rather the opposite. You are not changing anything, you are forcing the nation down the same disastrous course that Zanu PF forced us to take these last 37 years landing us in the mess we are in today.
General, It is 37 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption that have destroyed the country's economy. Unemployment has soared to 90% plus, basic services like health and education have all but collapsed, there is no clean running water and power cuts are the norm. The country is richly endowed with productive farm land and minerals but those who do not know anything about farming seized the farms. And you, General Chiwenga, know exactly how many billions of dollars a month are being looted from Marange and Chiadzwa diamond fields.
I dare you to deny that you ARE one of the few who has been looting the diamonds!
72.3% of our people are living on US$1.00 or less a day or $30 .00 or less a month. These people have to pay for their food, shelter, transport, water, clothing, education, everything from just $30 for the whole month. Can you imagine, please try to, what kind of meal (they cannot afford more than one meal a day) they eat, clothes they wear, bed they sleep in, etc.
Zimbabweans are today the poorest people on the poorest continent on earth, Africa. We are the poorest people on earth!
The people of Zimbabwe have known for decades that the country was going to the dogs but were totally helpless to do anything about it. For 37 years the nation has been stuck with an incompetent and corrupt regime that rigged elections and used wanton violence to stay in power. You, General Chiwenga, you are a member of Joint Operation Command (JOC), a shadowy Junta comprising of other senior security chefs and senior Zanu PF party and government officials including former VP Emerson Mnangagwa and Robert Mugabe. JOC is the real power behind the Zanu PF dictatorship that has ruled this country with an iron fist.
Again, I dare you to deny that you ARE a very active member of this shadowy Junta!
You give the military coup you have staged, of which you are the ring leader, whatever fancy names you wish and equally fictitious objectives the truth is as clear as day. The coup is to stop Mugabe appoint his wife Grace his successor and impose the coup plotters preferred successor Emerson Mnangagwa instead. This is just the climax of Zanu PF's factional war pitting the G40 faction against the Lacoste faction; the coup the coup de grace confirming the latter faction's victory.
"The Zimbabwe Defence and Security Services are encouraged by the new developments which include contact between the President and the former Vice President, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, who is expected in the country shortly. Thereafter, the nation will be advised on the outcome of talks between the two. In the meantime, His Excellency and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde R.G. Mugabe has started processes towards a definitive solution and roadmap for the country," continues General Chiwenga.
In short Mnangagwa will return and takeover the party Zanu PF, takeover the JOC Junta and the office of the presidency. No doubt, Mnangagwa will change a few things to stamp his own authority and consolidate his hold on power. Other than that, JOC will soon have the Zanu PF dictatorship juggernaut back in full operation complete with the usual mismanagement, corruption, vote rigging, repression, etc.
Even now with the country in a serious economic mess and on the verge of social and political instability brought on by the people protesting the heart-breaking economic hardship they are facing; you, General, and your JOC Junta close eyes and refuse to see reality. The country is dying for meaningful political change, the pre-requisite for economic recovery, which is only possible if we implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and deliver free and fair elections. Instead of seizing the opportunity of the removal of Mugabe to implement the reforms all the coup has done is rearranged the chairs in the Zanu PF dictatorship.
"Operation Restore Legacy" has restored the Zanu PF dictatorship of the last 37 years which landed the nation in the present economic and political mess. The current economic situation in the country in not sustainable. The Zanu PF culture of corruption, vote rigging, etc. must stop. The Zanu PF dictatorship must be dismantled now; not in two years, next year, now.
You, General Chiwenga, Emerson Mnangagwa and the rest in JOC must now wake up to the reality that the days of the Zanu PF dictatorship riding roughshod over the people's hopes and dreams are over. You can resist implementing the democratic reforms all you like but all the reforms will be implemented sooner that you think!
If you think you can rig next year's elections and get away with it; think again. I dare you, try!
For anyone who had been on one of those sabbaticals where he or she is cut-off completely from the outside world and turned on their TV to be greeted by none other than "WhatApp" Minister Patrick Chinamasa announcing that "R G Mugabe has been removed as First Secretary of Zanu PF and will be impeached if he does not resign his post as President of Zimbabwe"! The announcement is being made at Zanu PF HQ and, guess what, it is none other than a whole troop of Zanu PF buffoons cheering and applauding.
Here is the man, Chinamasa, who has spent his working life grooving to Mugabe calling the tyrant "His Excellency, The Right Honourable President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and First Secretary of Zanu PF, Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe," with an air of one who did not dare leave out even one syllable. And the buffoons are cheering the news, they cannot contain themselves with excitement!
"Vadzi wadzisa!" (They are smoking too much weed!) would have been the observer's instinct reaction to this surreal spectacle!
After 37 years as the head of both his party, Zanu PF, and Zimbabwe, which he ruled with an iron fist Mugabe had become permanent fixture in Zimbabwe. The tyrant was so cocksure of his own continued rule he even boasted that God alone would remove him from office. All that had suddenly changed when a posse of Army Generals they had seize control of the country and he was under house arrest.
For 37 years Mugabe had successful resist regime-change and in the blink of an eye change was staring him straight in the eyes.
Last night it was the whole nation and the world at large which confounded by another surreal two hours. Everyone was told Mugabe was going to announce his resignation. He read his speech, surrounded by the top brass in the security services, holding him captive. It was a long rumbling speech in which he talked about presiding over Zanu PF's congress in three weeks' time, the coming rainy season, etc. He said nothing about resigning!
His own Zanu PF cronies who have been as unquestioning royal to him as dogs for four decades had finally broken the spell and removed him from his post as party leader. How can he still preside over the party's congress?
The posse of Army Generals sitting next to him were the coup plotters and not guests he had invited for a cup of tea and they wanted him to resign. How can he then be wittering about the rain season as if this was a perfectly normal situation?
If General Chiwenga thought he was going to help make sense of the puzzling events of the last two weeks in the statement he realised today; he was wrong.
"Meetings with His Excellency, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe have gone on in an atmosphere of mutual respect and several guarantees have been made. As your Defence and Security Services, we remain seized with the operation code named "Operation Restore Legacy". We are confident to take our beloved country out of its present circumstances and set it on the desired development trajectory.
General Chiwenga let me tell you in plain language that even a child can understand. Zimbabwe is in a complete mess economically and politically. And everything you and your fellow coup plotters have done and are doing will not set the country on a development path but rather the opposite. You are not changing anything, you are forcing the nation down the same disastrous course that Zanu PF forced us to take these last 37 years landing us in the mess we are in today.
I dare you to deny that you ARE one of the few who has been looting the diamonds!
72.3% of our people are living on US$1.00 or less a day or $30 .00 or less a month. These people have to pay for their food, shelter, transport, water, clothing, education, everything from just $30 for the whole month. Can you imagine, please try to, what kind of meal (they cannot afford more than one meal a day) they eat, clothes they wear, bed they sleep in, etc.
Zimbabweans are today the poorest people on the poorest continent on earth, Africa. We are the poorest people on earth!
The people of Zimbabwe have known for decades that the country was going to the dogs but were totally helpless to do anything about it. For 37 years the nation has been stuck with an incompetent and corrupt regime that rigged elections and used wanton violence to stay in power. You, General Chiwenga, you are a member of Joint Operation Command (JOC), a shadowy Junta comprising of other senior security chefs and senior Zanu PF party and government officials including former VP Emerson Mnangagwa and Robert Mugabe. JOC is the real power behind the Zanu PF dictatorship that has ruled this country with an iron fist.
Again, I dare you to deny that you ARE a very active member of this shadowy Junta!
You give the military coup you have staged, of which you are the ring leader, whatever fancy names you wish and equally fictitious objectives the truth is as clear as day. The coup is to stop Mugabe appoint his wife Grace his successor and impose the coup plotters preferred successor Emerson Mnangagwa instead. This is just the climax of Zanu PF's factional war pitting the G40 faction against the Lacoste faction; the coup the coup de grace confirming the latter faction's victory.
"The Zimbabwe Defence and Security Services are encouraged by the new developments which include contact between the President and the former Vice President, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, who is expected in the country shortly. Thereafter, the nation will be advised on the outcome of talks between the two. In the meantime, His Excellency and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde R.G. Mugabe has started processes towards a definitive solution and roadmap for the country," continues General Chiwenga.
In short Mnangagwa will return and takeover the party Zanu PF, takeover the JOC Junta and the office of the presidency. No doubt, Mnangagwa will change a few things to stamp his own authority and consolidate his hold on power. Other than that, JOC will soon have the Zanu PF dictatorship juggernaut back in full operation complete with the usual mismanagement, corruption, vote rigging, repression, etc.
Even now with the country in a serious economic mess and on the verge of social and political instability brought on by the people protesting the heart-breaking economic hardship they are facing; you, General, and your JOC Junta close eyes and refuse to see reality. The country is dying for meaningful political change, the pre-requisite for economic recovery, which is only possible if we implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and deliver free and fair elections. Instead of seizing the opportunity of the removal of Mugabe to implement the reforms all the coup has done is rearranged the chairs in the Zanu PF dictatorship.
"Operation Restore Legacy" has restored the Zanu PF dictatorship of the last 37 years which landed the nation in the present economic and political mess. The current economic situation in the country in not sustainable. The Zanu PF culture of corruption, vote rigging, etc. must stop. The Zanu PF dictatorship must be dismantled now; not in two years, next year, now.
You, General Chiwenga, Emerson Mnangagwa and the rest in JOC must now wake up to the reality that the days of the Zanu PF dictatorship riding roughshod over the people's hopes and dreams are over. You can resist implementing the democratic reforms all you like but all the reforms will be implemented sooner that you think!
If you think you can rig next year's elections and get away with it; think again. I dare you, try!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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