NPF, a party that never was

The newly-formed National Patriotic Front (NPF) is already suffering a still birth even before becoming a fully-fledged party as the founding leaders Professor Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere and Patrick Zhuwao are embroiled in a tussle to control the former president Robert Mugabe linked party.

Endorsed by ex-president Mugabe, NPF is the brainchild of G40 kingpins and ex-cabinet ministers Moyo, Zhuwao and Kasukuwere who all fled into self-imposed exile when the country's military launched Operation Restore Legacy last November, culminating the resignation of the former president.

From its formation in March this year, the NPF has been fighting to live for another day as it faced more problems with each passing day. The first mammoth task which shook the party was its quest to choose a substantive leader to guide the newly formed party.

There were speculations that the foul-mouthed former first lady, Grace Mugabe would lead the party.

However, that party eventually anointed the former Minister of State for Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs, Brigadier-General Ambrose Mutinhiri (Retired), as the leader of the G40 cabal's new political project after a meeting at the former First Family's residence, Blue Roof Mansion in Borrowdale at the beginning of March this year.

Barely a month into assuming his post, knives were all out for Mutinhiri as new leadership squabbles engulfed the new outfit. There was war inside that party, with Grace Mugabe and her close former G40 kingpins pushing for Mutinhiri's ouster, claiming that he was incompetent and that she is better qualified and placed to lead the party into this year's elections.

Fast forward to May 2018, the NPF is making headlines again for the wrong reasons. From the look of things, the party could be headed for an early split amid new leadership squabbles among the three G40 kingpins Prof Moyo, Zhuwao and Kasukuwere.

Zhuwao and Prof Moyo are at loggerheads with close ally Kasukuwere as they claimed that he has been hired by the unforeseen enemies to fan divisions within that embattled party as he was rumoured to take reigns of a similar outfit called Zimbabwe National Patriotic Front (ZNPF) to compete against NPF.

Writing in his weekly column, The Zhuwao Brief Reloaded, Mugabe's nephew said, "Kasukuwere has been reported at some meetings of the real NPF as either having arrived in Zimbabwe or as being on the verge of landing in Zimbabwe in an effort to tie his supposed leadership of the copy-cat ZNPF project with the real NPF."

Zhuwao further trashed Kasukuwere's leadership qualities and concluded that he is not the appropriate person to lead that political outfit.

On the other hand, details filtering on the social media is that one of the issues that has caused the fallout of the triumvirate is a US$30 million pledged by Mugabe to finance the party's programmes. It is alleged that Prof Moyo and Kasukuwere fell out because the former wanted to control the fund.

These latest NPF leadership squabbles is set to put the party once again to the acid test. Time will tell whether the party will emerge stronger from the current upheavals to become one of the opposition parties to reckon with in the local political circles.

With only a few months left to the 2018 harmonised elections, the party seem to be attracting more problems that ever. With each passing day its more leadership squabbles, more counter accusations, no manifesto to lure voters to the new outfit and low turnout at provincial launch meetings.

At this rate, NPF, is the party that never was. It has to adapt or die natural death. I foresee the party being crushed by the ZANUPF juggernaut at the forthcoming elections, only time will tell.