Opinion / Columnist
When Dongo warned of 'vakadzi vaMugabe' Ministers we should have acted there and then
09 Jul 2016 at 19:57hrs | Views
When Mai Dongo talked of Zanu PF leaders being "vakadzi vaMugabe" (Mugabe's wives) because the tyrant terrorized them all turning them into nervous, unsure, subservient and downright frighten old women; we should have paid attention. And asked ourselves whether we wanted to live in a country ruled by a tyrant and his harem of frightened wives?
President Mugabe has ruled his party Zanu PF and the nation with an iron fist and it is little wonder his cabinet members in government and politburo members in the party have all been his subservient wives.
It was President Mugabe, he and he alone, who appoints and fires anyone into cabinet and the politburo, top brass in the Police and Army (he is Commander in Chief of all the Armed Services), Judges, University Vice Chancellor (he is the Chancellor of all the Universities in the country), CEO and Board members of parastatals, Chiefs, etc., etc. Talk of absolute power he really has absolute over every façade of Zimbabwean life!
Although the Zanu PF constitution, until Mugabe changed it in 2014, said the four most senior positions in the party would be filled by elected officials elected by congress members President Mugabe always ended up filling the top post himself and then filling the rest with his own preferred candidates, by hook and by crook. His vote rigging skills were not just confined to rigging national elections but party elections too. In 2004 President Mugabe unilaterally changed the party constitution to stipulate that one of the top four posts in the party must be filled by a woman just to stop Emmerson Mnangagwa who was set to win the position left following the death of Simon Muzenda. Thus Mai Mujuru with a knowing wink was elevated to VP and the poor woman knew she owned her position to Mugabe and thus was as faithful to him as a dog! In 2014 Mai Mujuru was herself to a victim of President Mugabe's political shenanigans when she was set to retain her VP at the elective congress. She was accused of corruption (by the grandees of corrupt) and of plotting to assassinate President Mugabe (not even one person has ever been arrested and charged, proof this was a cooked up charge). This time it was Emmerson Mnangagwa who was to benefit from all this cloak and dagga political intrigue; Mugabe appointed him VP with yet another wink, wink!
VP Mnangagwa thought he was going to be President Mugabe's the heir- apparent only to be told in his face the race was open for others to contest by Mugabe himself, with a knowing look and wink at his wife Grace. Keeping everyone guessing and not sure of their own position other than that they owe the position and everything to Mugabe has been Mugabe's trademark style of management. Even the roles of key institutions are ill defined.
He has kept the powers and authority of cabinet and the politburo separate and yet mixed by having the some individuals in both cabinet and the politburo. He has often made a big song and dance about the need to consult the politburo and it then dictating to cabinet only for cabinet to then completely ignore politburo's diktats. So both the politburo and cabinet have all felt powerful and completely helpless and confused at the same time. Confusing; well it gets even worse!
President Mugabe has set up Joint Operations Command (JOC), a Junta comprising the top brass in the Police, Army, CIO and Prison Service, Emmerson Mnangagwa and a few others co-opted by Mugabe, he and he alone, headed by President Mugabe himself. The Junta has no constitutional basis and yet it wields a lot of power in all matters of national security and to do with the shadowy business of corruption and looting!
Corruption and looting is now a multi-billion dollar industry in Zimbabwe and it is not surprising that Junta members are filthy rich. Two days ago government suddenly announced that all civil servants who had gone on strike to press their demands to be paid on time will all be paid by the end of the week. Government had threatened to delay paying their wages for another week because it did not have the money now, suddenly, found the cash. It is almost certain that the Junta gave the government the money!
In one of his insightful moments Tendai Biti, then Minister of Finance in the GNU, complained of President Mugabe running a shadowy "parallel government complete with its own funding". He was talking of JOC and its members have pocketed billions of dollars from the looting of diamonds.
When push comes to shove JOC has made the decisions and parliament, cabinet, Zanu PF politburo, etc. have been reduced to rubber stamping the decision. Within JOC itself it is inconceivable that a simpleton like Chihuri or Chiwenga would even dare contradict President Mugabe on any matter; the two were born to take instructions with no questioned asked. So JOC decisions will be Mugabe and Mugabe alone who would have decided.
What makes Mugabe's wives appear more like evil witches than abused mothers to the nation is that they have not only failed to stand up to Mugabe and stop commit the Gukurahundi mass murders or more recently the wholesale looting of Marange diamonds but have often played a key role in the evil deed. There is no doubt that Mugabe would have never establish this Zanu PF dictatorship without the connivance of his Zanu PF "wifes"!
When Mai Dongo talked of parliamentarians, cabinet members, Zanu PF politburo members, security chiefs, etc., etc., all being "Vakadzi vaMugabe!" church-size alarm bells should have started ringing in our heads. Zimbabwe is a politic and economic mess because, instead of a competent government comprising of a state president, ministers, etc., we have been ruled by a tyrant and his gaggle of wicked witches who did not cared a cat's whiskers about the suffering of us, the common people.
We must now implement all the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA if we are to be sure Mugabe and his harem go and no other tyrant will set shop after him. Whilst many of Mugabe's Zanu PF colleagues are ashamed to be "Vakadzi vaMugabe" many of them would, given half a chance, have a dictatorship of their own complete with its own harem!
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Patrick Guramatunhu <patguramatunhu@gmail.com
Although the Zanu PF constitution, until Mugabe changed it in 2014, said the four most senior positions in the party would be filled by elected officials elected by congress members President Mugabe always ended up filling the top post himself and then filling the rest with his own preferred candidates, by hook and by crook. His vote rigging skills were not just confined to rigging national elections but party elections too. In 2004 President Mugabe unilaterally changed the party constitution to stipulate that one of the top four posts in the party must be filled by a woman just to stop Emmerson Mnangagwa who was set to win the position left following the death of Simon Muzenda. Thus Mai Mujuru with a knowing wink was elevated to VP and the poor woman knew she owned her position to Mugabe and thus was as faithful to him as a dog! In 2014 Mai Mujuru was herself to a victim of President Mugabe's political shenanigans when she was set to retain her VP at the elective congress. She was accused of corruption (by the grandees of corrupt) and of plotting to assassinate President Mugabe (not even one person has ever been arrested and charged, proof this was a cooked up charge). This time it was Emmerson Mnangagwa who was to benefit from all this cloak and dagga political intrigue; Mugabe appointed him VP with yet another wink, wink!
VP Mnangagwa thought he was going to be President Mugabe's the heir- apparent only to be told in his face the race was open for others to contest by Mugabe himself, with a knowing look and wink at his wife Grace. Keeping everyone guessing and not sure of their own position other than that they owe the position and everything to Mugabe has been Mugabe's trademark style of management. Even the roles of key institutions are ill defined.
He has kept the powers and authority of cabinet and the politburo separate and yet mixed by having the some individuals in both cabinet and the politburo. He has often made a big song and dance about the need to consult the politburo and it then dictating to cabinet only for cabinet to then completely ignore politburo's diktats. So both the politburo and cabinet have all felt powerful and completely helpless and confused at the same time. Confusing; well it gets even worse!
President Mugabe has set up Joint Operations Command (JOC), a Junta comprising the top brass in the Police, Army, CIO and Prison Service, Emmerson Mnangagwa and a few others co-opted by Mugabe, he and he alone, headed by President Mugabe himself. The Junta has no constitutional basis and yet it wields a lot of power in all matters of national security and to do with the shadowy business of corruption and looting!
Corruption and looting is now a multi-billion dollar industry in Zimbabwe and it is not surprising that Junta members are filthy rich. Two days ago government suddenly announced that all civil servants who had gone on strike to press their demands to be paid on time will all be paid by the end of the week. Government had threatened to delay paying their wages for another week because it did not have the money now, suddenly, found the cash. It is almost certain that the Junta gave the government the money!
In one of his insightful moments Tendai Biti, then Minister of Finance in the GNU, complained of President Mugabe running a shadowy "parallel government complete with its own funding". He was talking of JOC and its members have pocketed billions of dollars from the looting of diamonds.
When push comes to shove JOC has made the decisions and parliament, cabinet, Zanu PF politburo, etc. have been reduced to rubber stamping the decision. Within JOC itself it is inconceivable that a simpleton like Chihuri or Chiwenga would even dare contradict President Mugabe on any matter; the two were born to take instructions with no questioned asked. So JOC decisions will be Mugabe and Mugabe alone who would have decided.
What makes Mugabe's wives appear more like evil witches than abused mothers to the nation is that they have not only failed to stand up to Mugabe and stop commit the Gukurahundi mass murders or more recently the wholesale looting of Marange diamonds but have often played a key role in the evil deed. There is no doubt that Mugabe would have never establish this Zanu PF dictatorship without the connivance of his Zanu PF "wifes"!
When Mai Dongo talked of parliamentarians, cabinet members, Zanu PF politburo members, security chiefs, etc., etc., all being "Vakadzi vaMugabe!" church-size alarm bells should have started ringing in our heads. Zimbabwe is a politic and economic mess because, instead of a competent government comprising of a state president, ministers, etc., we have been ruled by a tyrant and his gaggle of wicked witches who did not cared a cat's whiskers about the suffering of us, the common people.
We must now implement all the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA if we are to be sure Mugabe and his harem go and no other tyrant will set shop after him. Whilst many of Mugabe's Zanu PF colleagues are ashamed to be "Vakadzi vaMugabe" many of them would, given half a chance, have a dictatorship of their own complete with its own harem!
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Patrick Guramatunhu <patguramatunhu@gmail.com
Source - zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk
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