Comrade Geza, swapping Mnangagwa for Chiwenga will change nothing; most war veterans will remain poor as a church mouse

"Isu hatina kusafira vanhu vemezvibvindo. Takasafira povo yanetsva nevarungu. Ndiyo yavakusupwa nesu nhasi!" (We did not suffer for the few ruling elite. We suffered to free povo who were suffering from white colonial oppression. The same povo are today being oppressed by fellow blacks!) said Victor Matemadanda in 2017 to the thunderous applause from his fellow war veterans.

When he mentioned the suffering of the war veterans living in poverty the applause was deafening. It was clear this was the number one reasons the war veterans were unhappy - the suffering of povo was nothing more than the stocking horse!

Last week Blessed Geza said almost the same thing to yet another thunderous applause from his fellow war veterans.

In 2017 Matemadanda was demanding that Robert Mugabe was go, he had failed the nation. He was forced to resign soon after the 15 November 2017 military coup.

Geza and company are demanding that Mnangagwa must resign or he too will be forced out!

Some one has produced a video with the two war veterans side by side to underline the fact that the nation has been here before and nothing changed after the coup in 2017. Rest assured, nothing will change this time round either particularly since it is already clear Geza and company are garnering for VP Chiwenga to replace Mnangagwa.

Replacing Mugabe with Mnangagwa did not bring about any meaningful political or economic changes since the later was just as corrupt, incompetent and a murderous tyrant as Mugabe. The would be investors were not fooled by Mnangagwa's "Zimbabwe is open for business!" 2017 mantra. They could see that Zimbabwe remained a pariah state and by rigging the 2018 elections Mnangagwa confirmed nothing indeed had changed.

All those who know VP Chiwenga will tell you that his meteoric rise to the rank of Commander of Zimbabwe Defence Force was NOT on merit but rather political connections. He has played his part in helping create and retain the Zanu PF de facto one party state and, in turn, got his share of the lion's share of the looted wealth.

In short, Chiwenga is just as corrupt, incompetent and does not have a single drop of democrat blood in his veins. And so replacing Mnangagwa, a dictator, with Chiwenga another dictator will change nothing.

So the overwhelming majority of the war veterans, who are demanding that Mnangagwa step down, will discover that in one, two, etc. years from now they will still be as poor as the proverbial church mouse!

Robert Mugabe and company conned the war veterans to subscribe to the foolish notion that Zanu PF has the divine right to govern the country and that was the primary purpose of the war of liberation. And hence the reason why even when the war veterans admit Zanu PF failure they can only think of replacing the Zanu PF leader with another party leader, even after 45 years of  Zanu PF misrule.

Zimbabwe is a failed state because the nation has been stuck with the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for the last 45 years. The war veterans has played their part in helping Zanu PF rig the elections and stay in power.

The real tragedy here is that Matemadanda, Geza and the rest of the war veterans have not learned that swapping one dictator for another will change nothing. Change, real and meaningful change, will come from dismantling the failed one-party dictatorship itself and to do that they must accept that all Zimbabweans, not just war veterans, have the right to free, fair and credible elections.

The right to all citizens to a meaningful say in the governance is more than just a right - it is the essence of good governance. After 45 years of blundering from pillar to post, from one dictator to another, and sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss; Zimbabwe needs good governance desperately.