Mujuru unconvincing

I braved the chilly weather to listen to Mai Joice Mujuru of Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) on Saturday afternoon at her maiden Harare rally. I belong to no existing political affiliation and mine was a curiosity borne out of support of the woman folk who has dared into a man dominated environs and to have the "scoop" of the ZANU-PF government beans she promised to spill according to the party spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire, though I questioned her audacity of mooting to wantonly contravening the Official Secret Act, but then again this was a publicity stunt and it sure earned her a sizeable crowd.  

Like many who graced the rally, I went with an open mind and was ready to be converted, from my apolitical stance after having suffered massive disillusionment with the opposition politics in Zimbabwe. My impartiality suffered a rude awakening, when the former ZANU-PF cadre opened her mouth proving true the proverbial saying "It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt". Her address lacked conviction and was just a murky, lackluster piece of work exposing her bankruptcy of ideas, which will surely expedite her eventual demise. I am sure her handlers are already wishing for the return to her hibernation at least during that time people were left guessing as to her competence or lack of it.

Now that she has embarked on her rallies all her shortcomings are a glaring reminder that she has nothing to offer but bitterness with her former party ZANU-PF.  Her speech was nothing but the same opposition rhetoric that has left Zimbabweans disillusioned and distrusting opposition politicians. As I sat at the civic center ground I was struck by the way she tried to convince attendees that hers is not a ZANU-PF project. It also dawned on me that try as she might, her inglorious exit from ZANU-PF will always haunt her and the emotional scaring she got from being chased from a party she had known all her life makes her a vulnerable opposition leader.

She will remain fixated with her former party to her own undoing. I am no psychologist but the first rule of moving forward with one's life is to address the past which this lady has not done. She harbors venomous bitterness with ZANU-PF and as I listened to her address, I realized she is expending most of her energy trying to prove a point with her former colleagues that she fails to see the bigger picture of why she joined opposition politics in the first place. I believe she joined opposition politics for the wrong reasons and that in itself makes her an unpersuasive opposition politician. Her case is not ameliorated by surrounding herself with old bones in the form of Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo and Dzikamai Mavhaire. Those sack of bones were an eyesore to her top table at the rally and many at the rally could not hide their incredulity.

I was struck by the way she called herself a "moderate" amongst hardliners in ZANU-PF as a bag of moonshine. When she was in the thick of things in ZANU-PF why is it that her moderation did not present itself. She should not make so many an apologies for having being part of ZANU-PF and any attempt to do so will only open her to ridicule as people are not as gullible so as to believe her purported innocence. Her attempts to lure war vets from ZANU-PF were pitiable. She should know much that war veterans might have their differences in ZANU-PF, but it remains their home. War veterans would rather fight it out in the revolutionary party than join her in her political wilderness.

The bottom line, Mai Mujuru is not convincing. I quizzed those who blasted her interview with SAFM in February when she stammered and could not articulate issues compellingly. Her current rallies have just confirmed the concerns that Zimbabweans raised after her bungled interview. She is no presidential material and like her counterpart Morgan Tsvangirai who the former US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell stated would require massive hand holding, she will also require that assistance if ever she makes it to the inaccessible State House. This is the same reason she slaved in the shadow of President Mugabe during her tenure as vice president. She is a follower and has no leadership qualities that inspire Zimbabweans to follow her.  The euphoria of attending her rallies will soon die down as Zimbabweans will realize that this is another empty vessel (old wine in new bottles) that has nothing to offer but reverse the gains of the struggle as she is promising during her rallies. Her knack for the West is coming to the fore as she herself does not have solutions to the problems facing Zimbabwe but to kneel and bow to the West for solutions, the treacherous path trodden by her predecessors in opposition politics. Mai Mujuru is not inventing the wheel and the hype that followed her entry in opposition politics will wane soon enough and reality will then hit that this is not a job for the faint-hearted.

If I were Mai Mujuru after exiting ZANU-PF, I should have counted my losses and opted for leading a simple life as a farmer, mother, grandmother, businesswoman etc.   I should not have been arm twisted by the likes of Didymus Mutasa and company, spent forces who can't tell their right hand from their left. Whoever is lying to this woman that she can lead Zimbabwe should have mercy, as she simply does not have the aptitude for leadership.  Zimbabwe requires strong and decisive leadership that is ready to fight for its place in the world politics.

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Tapiwa Maware <tmaware28@gmail.com