Mujuru, Tsvangirai coalition doomed?

Zanu-PF already has a solid coalition with the people of Zimbabwe ahead of the 2018 harmonised elections and a mooted alliance between Western-sponsored political parties is certain to lose, the revolutionary party's senior members have said.

Zanu-PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo yesterday said politicians such as National People's Party leader Dr Joice Mujuru angling to reverse the land reform and indigenisation programmes would not win against Zimbabweans.

The revolutionary party's National Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere also said Zanu-PF remained unfazed by the purported coalition between Dr Mujuru and the MDC-T.

Dr Mujuru, in an interview with BBC in London last week said her new party was close to a coalition with Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T.

She said the two parties were drafting a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

Said Dr Mujuru: "Between Tsvangirai and myself, we are working together, we have done some addresses together and right now we are working on an MoU so that we are able to work together."

She said her party would also reverse Zanu-PF's indigenisation and empowerment programme as it was "anti-investment".

Chombo said a coalition of rejects was clumsy.

"It's a marriage of rejects," he said. "Tsvangirai has been rejected by the people for the past 20 years and was further rejected by groups within his party. Mai Mujuru is a reject from Zanu-PF. She formed her own party and within a few months she was rejected by that party. They are not genuine opposition parties but individuals using opposition politics to front for Western imperialists," said Chombo.

"One reject plus another reject will never give you acceptance. As the ruling party, we have always represented the aspirations of the people and will continue to march forward to improve the people's livelihoods while they continue campaigning for the intensification of sanctions as if people are not suffering enough."

On Dr Mujuru's plans to undo empowerment programmes, Chombo said: "By reversing indigenisation you are reversing the land reform yet the land issue was the main reason why the liberation war was fought.

"In the same interview, she talks about her sole business being the farm that she is running. She is a beneficiary of the land reform programme and if she is genuine she should move away from the farm."

Kasukuwere said politics was not about MoUs, but resonating well with the masses.

"Two zeros entering into an MoU what do you expect? It's all about having a greater understanding of the people," he said.

"In politics, if one is to sign an MoU it has to be with the masses who matter most and as Zanu-PF we are solidly on the ground delivering service to the masses. The two are spent forces and even if they were to merge, it won't change anything."

During his 93rd birthday interview last month, President Mugabe also described the purported coalition as a blend of weaknesses.

"My Grade One teacher taught me that zero plus zero cannot equal two, it is always zero. Even if you add more zeroes up to 10 it just amounts to a huge pile of zeros, nothing, you see," he said.