Mugabe brewing political chaos

Recent comments by President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace in which they have rubbished prospects of appointing a successor to take over from the aged leader indicate a covert plan for the latter to succeed her husband if Zanu PF wins the 2018 elections, analysts contend.

Mugabe celebrated his 93rd birthday last week when he told ZTV in an interview that at the moment, there was no suitable candidate to take over from him.

At his birthday party at the Rhodes Estate Preparatory School in Matobo on Saturday, Mugabe said he will not be pressured into anointing a successor.

Grace, on the other hand, stunned people at a recent rally when she said: " . . . If God decides that Mugabe should go and we put pictures of his corpse on the ballot paper, people will still vote for him and he will win the election."

In May last year, Grace told Zanu PF supporters that Mugabe will rule from the grave.

Political commentator Maxwell Saungweme said developments within Zanu PF will result in a chaotic and bloody transition, and a potential Zanu PF-induced civil strife.

"What Mugabe and his wife are saying puts the nation and region on high security alert. Their statements have the potential to brew political chaos.

"Those people who stood by Mugabe all along, including military generals, don't take lightly to what Mugabe is saying and the insults from Grace. In short, I see chaos.

"There are enough cases where dictatorial regimes end up in chaos after failing to develop cogent succession plans.

"Mugabe and his wife should know Zimbabwe belongs not to us and them but our children. Their statements threaten the future of Zimbabwe and the future of our children."

Human rights commentator Dewa Mavhinga said Mugabe's succession has been left until too late and now presents a serious risk of chaos and civil strife given other members of the presidium, including Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, appear to have been disqualified.

"This may indicate a covert plan to have Grace take over post 2018 elections. With Mugabe around, resistance to such a plan will be muted, but there is no telling what could happen the moment Mugabe steps off the stage."

Social commentator Farai Maguwu said he does not see this rift between the two Zanu PF factions - G40 and Team Lacoste - healing.

"Unlike in the past where Mugabe would allow these divisions and then unify the warring factions ahead of the election, now he is a sleeping captain and everyone in Zanu PF is thinking of life beyond and without Mugabe.

"It is now very clear Mugabe is the head of Grace's faction that is why he is losing the loyalty of many trusted cadres like war veterans.

"If Mugabe successfully gets re-elected, G40 would have won and chances of Grace succeeding her husband become more real. This means another attempt at bhora musango by Lacoste in 2018."

Political analyst Tabani Moyo said all what Mugabe has done is to buttress his intentions to die in office.

"In last year's birthday interview on ZBC-TV, he said he is aiming for 100 years. If he runs in 2018 and wins, buy the time he finishes that term, he will be 99. By so doing, colleagues who started with him in 1980 will be equally aged.

"In his mindset, he does not want any of his colleagues from the ‘bush' to take over and attempt to correct the governance and economic failures. That is why you hear him saying at the moment no-one is fit to succeed him.

"But what we must not lose sight of in this chaos is that the man is very tired and has lost the pulse of country," said Moyo.

He added that when Mugabe was being asked of power retention questions during his recent ZBC-TV interview to mark his 93rd birthday, he was very alert "but once it got to the economic questions, you could see he does not care at all. The sad part in all these developments is that the opposition is moribund."