Chigumba, I disagree with you fully! Men are equal political turn-coats

Mukoma Chigumba, I read your articles online with great eagerness. I agree with most of your opinions, sometimes I don't, but this is what democracy is all about, to learn to agree and disagree. This time around, your article in Bulawayo 24 today did not go down well with me. Grace Mugabe was not and has never been ambitious for power in her early years of marriage until late. If you follow Grace Mugabe's rise and fall from grace you will recognize how this poor woman was painfully used and abused by men who were near her, men she trusted most, abused by her husband and indeed those men in the G40.  

Mrs. Grace Mugabe together with many other Zimbabwean women in public spaces carries the blame all the time if things went wrong politically. At her early years in her life she landed in the hands of an overly old man. We know this story well. I did not need to repeat what we know: she left her first marriage that was not a happy one and she sincerely thought she was in good hands in older hands: a president of the Republic, a man older than her own mother. In all those years married to Robert Mugabe, Grace was happy as long as she was in the kitchen, in the living room and the other room, a typical African setup we were all brought up to biblically adhere to as growing up girls.

Grace Mugabe's rise to power, her ambition to want to take over from her husband was a ploy that did not come from her at all: this ambition for power to take over from Mugabe was inside Zanu PF men and not inside Grace. Grace was happy to be the wife of the president and never beyond. When those in Zanu PF echelons of power realized how fragile and aging Mugabe was becoming, the war to succeed him came centre stage. It started with General Solomon Mujuru who wanted Former President Mugabe to step down graciously; he did not manage. The rest is history.   

Realizing that Mugabe was not prepared to relinquish power as president, fighting became bitter and dirty. The so-called G40 that is composed of Kasukuwere, Zhuwao and Jonathan Moyo realized early that they did not have a chance of taking over from Mugabe. They realized too that they needed to act fast to take over power before Robert Mugabe dies. Waiting until he dies would have shifted the power matrix not in their favour. The removal of Amai Mujuru was the first step; it was  Grace who did the dirty work for them. In all her hate speeches against Amai Mujuru it was evident that those words and utterances never came from her, but from someone she trusted most. Grace was spoon-fed to destroy Joyce's career as Vice President of Zimbabwe. That ploy succeeded well. Amai Mujuru was shown the political door. One would have thought Jonathan Moyo and Mnangagwa have then together finally got what got lost in Tsholotsho Debacle!

Having been following the fight between G40 and Lacoste, all those bumper rallies that Grace did, It was clear that some of her utterances never came from her but Grace had a confident who may have deceived her she could easily become the next president. "What's wrong with me becoming the President?" she said. Grace, having been crooked to think she can actually take over from Mugabe and indeed becomes president; having fought a dirty fight to oust Mujuru, she was certain she was a game changer. Cognisant of the fact that she destroyed Joyce Mujuru successfully, she felt powerful enough to go for a kill with Mnangagwa and remove any obstacles on her way right up to the presidency. She indeed managed to have Mnangagwa kicked off, was relieved from government and the party, the rest is history.

Dear Mukoma Chigumba, we know that until the eve of the coup, everybody feared the Grace Mugabe presidency: Grace had positioned herself to become president. Grace Mugabe was to be Head of State and Commander -in-Chief of Zimbabwe Defence Forces, CIO and Police. The name of Dr. Sydney Sekeramai was casually spoken about as the favourite of former president Mugabe to take over from him. Truth of the matter is that the ascendency of Grace to power was well calculated by the G40 to the letter. It is the G40 that wanted power and they used Grace to take over power from Mugabe who is now overly aged: 94 years old, slowly and surely declining physically and mentally.  

The point I want to make to you is this vilifying of Zimbabwean women who are victims of circumstances most of the time. Indeed your article was sexist to say the least. Reading from Jonathan Moyo's tweets and of course when former president Mugabe tells us now after the coup, he wanted to be succeeded by Sekeramai: this is downright dishonest, disingenuous and backhanded. Sekeramai was politically palatable to conceal the actual ploy. It is inconceivable to think that Grace, much of a simpleton, could have done so much dirty work for Sekeramai to take over power from her husband. We all know those utterances in her rallies whose attendance were forced-marched to boost the "Amai's" ego. Those unprintable and vomit statements of her are still ringing in our minds unendingly to this day.

A learned Jonathan Moyo, who attended most of Grace Mugabe's rallies, had never for a moment groomed Grace to a brand marketable enough to be president. At best he should have advised against her divisiveness and toxic utterances in the presence of growing children, was unacceptable. School children attended those rallies to boost the numbers. As long as Grace was on the path to destroying Mnangagwa, Jonathan Moyo was comfortable with it. Now it is Jonathan again telling us about Grace Mugabe's toxic and polarising wishes to lead the NPF. In retrospect it's Jonathan, Zhuwao and Kasukuwere who used Grace: a plot to take over power behind the back of Grace Mugabe. Jonathan is a risk taker; he wittingly took Grace and the G40 group board to risk it all with him. If Grace stopped any communication with Jonathan this last June, it is because it has dawned on her somehow, how she was a pawn in the game of chess for so long.

How often has Jonathan defended Grace Mugabe when the population condemned her, complained about her inflammatory speeches at rallies? His verbatim statements about Grace are sad to comprehend:  "I consider it an insult that some circles, especially in the media, refer to some leaders who worked and supported President Mugabe as followers of Mrs Mugabe. That is not only false but it is also nonsensical. Mrs Mugabe cannot be a leader simply because she's the spouse of our iconic founding leader. Former president Mugabe himself has said on many occasions, including during the funeral of Ambuya Marufu that Mrs Mugabe could not have been his chosen successor because she lacked political experience to be a national leader."  

"Mrs Mugabe's lack of political experience has been self-evident and is known by everyone who has interacted with her. The remarks attributed to her in the Standard story are significant only in as far as they betray her lack of political experience, and toxic polarising and damaging consequences thereof," wrote Jonathan.

Why did Jonathan not say the same when Grace was kicking and screaming in those rallies: rallies that Jonathan also attended? She was toxic in the sense of the word and equally polarising. Why are her failures and seriously trampling on other people's bunions?  The coup is now behind us, G40 has fallen from grace, failed to get the power they wanted at all cost, it was a do-or-die kind of scenario? For argument sake if G40 succeeded in their power grab, Amai Grace would be the most appraised woman in the land for succeeding in crushing Mnangagwa. The total collapse of the G40 plan is put paid to Grace as the toxic polarising factor. Life is indeed very unfair to the women of Zimbabwe. We are always at fault over anything and everything gone wrong.    

Let's be fair dear Don in our perceptions, can you please tell it as it is who the political turn-coats are in Zimbabwe? Grace was dishonestly tricked by men to do and say what she said and uttered to crush Mnangagwa until he was ruthlessly removed from his VP presidency. Today, that assistance Mnangagwa gave to Grace at the time of her grief and loss of her mother was politics at best: Mnangagwa still wanted to give that sweet revenge to Grace, but since she has hit rock-bottom, what else was she supposed to say? Those words she said about "forgiveness" are the very words Mnangagwa wanted to get from her and he got it and he won the G40-Lacoste fight elegantly. The rock bottom is the safest place one can be. It allows one to reflect one's past misdemeanours and move on. I am sure Grace has done that homework for the sake of her children. She is a young woman with children. For the sake of her children and indeed herself, that forgiveness was what she could say at her mother's funeral.  

Just when we thought Mnangagwa was daft, he cannot do much without any intellectual assistance from Jonathan: he is not. Now G40 is dead, does not exist anymore, for the time being anywhere. Whoever thought or dreamt Amai Mugabe and Jonathan Moyo can be at each other's throat! I really feel for Grace Mugabe to be dressed down by Jonathan Moyo: once upon a time a close confident. Any confrontation with him leaves one incandescent with a bitter taste in ones mouth, he can be merciless.    

Dear Don, you said: "Because Grace's aim was to protect her controversial family wealth, she jumped off ship betraying her colleagues (Jonathan Moyo, Jealous Mawarire and the National Patriotic Front". Tell me who in our politics today is not a political chameleon? We see this everyday be it Zanu or MDC; it's just the same old story. It's not Grace's character alone but a national tragedy. Today Welshman Ncube is Vice President of MDC-Alliance; Biti is back in the MDC after elegantly winning his parliamentary seat back with a MDC-Ticket. We shall in future be told that Jonathan Moyo is going back to Zimbabwe to join Zanu PF. That will never surprise me at all. Jonathan is an invaluable asset to Zanu PF. Can we equally talk about political prostitutes to such men and write articles about them?

 Is it not Mugabe who congratulated Mnangagwa from wining the elections despite the fact that he openly voted for Chamisa? When Chamisa lost, Mugabe dumped Chamisa for Mnangagwa. Men are chameleons equally: sell-out traits are not only exclusively Grace Mugabe alone. How many times did Jonathan Moyo leave Zanu and came back again since he was in Morogoro, Tanzania? Today, Siphepha Nkomo has crossed over to MDC-Alliance, he has dumped Mujuru. Mr. Eddy Cross crossed over to Mnangagwa because he cannot stand immature politics in MDC-Alliance under Chamisa. It becomes big news and a sin if women are political incorrect. Men can afford to be as political incorrect as they wish. This is gross injustice on women; we fight for our rights to get that decency and respect that men enjoy in abundance.

The situation in which Grace Mugabe finds herself in is wholly unenviable. She is facing the imminent death of her husband who can "go to sleep" anytime now. She will be faced with a Mnangagwa government alone with her children. The relationship between Mnangagwa and Mugabe stretches 50 years, and Mnangagwa wants to maintain this respectful relationship with his mentor until Mugabe dies. Nobody knows what Mnangagwa has for Grace if Mugabe is no longer: dead. What we know is that Mnangagwa has great respect for Mugabe. It is this respect he showers by "luxury planes" to collect his wife from Singapore, respect to Mugabe and not Grace. Things will not be the same when Mugabe is gone: expect thunder and lightning on Grace's baptism.