Mugabe needs G40, Lacoste

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has in the past ruthlessly dealt with any threats to his power, but one challenge he has failed to address is the never-ending factionalism in Zanu-PF that threatens to tear the ruling party apart.

From the threats posed by Joshua Nkomo's-PF Zapu, which saw the unleashing of  the 5th Brigade under the pretext of quelling an insurgency in  Matabeleland and Midlands provinces to those brought about by the formation of the then united MDC party, Mugabe  has proved to be a "shrewd contriver" when his power is under threat.

Even going back to the liberation struggle, the ruthless way in which the likes of Rugare Gumbo and the now police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri and others in the Vashandi group at the tailend of the liberation struggle in  Mozambique, shows how resolute Mugabe is in dealing with threats to his power.

But at the turn of the century, Mugabe's hold on power faced a new challenge in the form of factionalism.

Although the party has maintained its hegemony on Zimbabwe's political landscape, most people think the internecine fights could sink Zanu-PF.

In 2004, the factional fights culminated into the so-called Tsholotsho Declaration, which Mugabe viewed as an attempt to stage a coup against him in favour of his long-time ally and now Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The incident claimed several scalps.

Mnangagwa was floored, but like the proverbial crocodile that waits for an opportune time to strike, he resurfaced in 2014 when he was elevated to his current position after the veteran leader axed his deputy of 10 years, Joice Mujuru from Zanu-PF in one of the biggest factional purges in Zanu-PF's history.

Mujuru's crime was growing powerful enough to pose a challenge to Mugabe's power.

In the early years, Mugabe used to vehemently deny the existence of factionalism, but 2014 marked a milestone year in which the veteran leader openly admitted that internal power struggles were wrecking the ruling Zanu-PF.

His first open admission was in 2012 at the Heroes Acre during  the burial of the late Higher Education minister Stan Mudenge.

"In the party in Masvingo, you go to Masvingo, what is the leadership there? The top leadership? VaMudenge, vaHungwe — sometimes of course they engage in factions. It is not Masvingo alone, factionalism is all over," Mugabe said then.

But curiously, Mugabe has not shown any zeal to deal with the scourge once and for all.

Political analyst, Eldred Masunungure said although it was within Mugabe's power to deal with factionalism, the veteran politician was opting to nurse it because it was an effective tool to keep himself in power.

"Mugabe is not acting decisively on factionalism because he is the biggest beneficiary.

"He would appear in public as someone who shuns factionalism, but at a political level, supporting it as a way of consolidating his power," Masunungure said.

"Behind the scenes, he supports factionalism as part of his Machiavellian act to consolidate his power, while making sure that no faction goes away with the crown.

"With his widely-known political shrewdness, he could have dealt with factionalism once and for all, but he has kept it as his political tact, playing factions against each other and so maintains his power.

"If he really wanted, factionalism could have been a thing of the past."

He said Mugabe could have dealt with factionalism in 2014, when he fired Mujuru from the party.

Masunungure said the Zanu-PF leader decided to keep Mnangagwa's faction but immediately created another faction, G40, to counterbalance the remaining faction.

Even when he castigates the factions, Masunungure said, Mugabe keeps them hanging and makes sure he deals a blow to any faction that is seen to be gaining an upper hand.

"For the purpose of balancing the powers, he needs the two factions. It is good for his Machiavellian pendulum politics," he said.

"Remember, he is a grandmaster of Machiavellian politics.

"Some people might think he is old and is now weak to deal with factionalism, but where power is involved, I have not seen him losing his glitter," the University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer added.

"Mugabe will continue using the manipulative games for as long as he lives.

"He will continue to manipulate the game of power and factionalism is his creation that he uses to consolidate power. He can deal with it decisively if he wants."

Alexander Rusero, another Harare-based political analyst, concurred with Masunungure that Mugabe was benefitting from factionalism, the reason he was not acting decisively  against the divisions.

"Right now the factions are stampeding for Mugabe's support; none has threatened his power yet. It is like two sons competing for the father's love," Rusero said.

"You will see the best of him when the factions begin to threaten his power.

"Look at what happened to war veterans, he unleashed the levers of power on them because Chris Mutsvangwa's actions were a direct threat to his power.

"What the war veterans were doing was tantamount to a coup, and he dealt with them."

He said Mugabe had established mechanisms to make sure the factions check-mated each other.

"Mnangagwa is the leader of Team Lacoste, but Mugabe put Saviour Kasukuwere as political commissar to take charge of structures.

"It means Kasukuwere will checkmate Mnangagwa. That is Mugabe for you, a real strategist" he said.

"Factions are still jostling for Mugabe's support in the post Mugabe era, none of them has challenged him and he is, thus, benefitting and unwilling to destroy its structures.

"He has nothing to worry about; he will only act when the real threat comes."

Mugabe, who turned 93 on February 21, claimed that there was no suitable candidate to succeed him in Zanu-PF. He also said he would not name a successor despite pressure from ruling party factions.