Mujuru's only political option

THE allegations against the Vice President, Cde Joyce Mujuru, have migrated from being mere party fictional or congress electioneering rhetoric to serious matters with far reaching consequences on national security and stability.

The premise of my argument is that these are allegations of plotting to unconstitutionally and criminally eliminate a constitutionally elected President who is just one year into his term of his office after a thunderous mandate never seen before in the history of the country on July 31, 2013. This thunderous victory came against a known background of serious political interference in the political processes of the country by the Western powerful nations who had pulled all stops, including gruelling sanctions, to effect illegal regime change in the country.

The victory came as a surprise to many who had used the 2008 elections as a measure and yardstick that President Mugabe was on his way out and that the GNU was just a way of managing the transition. But instead the man used that period to reconstruct himself and reunify the party for one purpose - bhora mughedi - which saw him personally win with a thunderous 62 percent.

It should be borne in mind that unlike in other countries, for instance, in South Africa, where presidents get elected via parliament on the strength of votes of the ANC, in Zimbabwe President Mugabe actually ran a race as a candidate and got votes for himself to be President of the Republic. It should also be noted that in that race he did not have a running mate but chose to appoint Vice President Mujuru on the basis of trust and belief that she was going to be a loyal cadre who would provide the necessary support structures to implement programmes for national cohesion and economic stabilisation.

In Zim-Asset, President Mugabe has come up with a public policy programme for national reconstruction and it is of great importance that the team he works with puts everything in top gear to ensure that the focus is on that programme. You don't have to agree with the programme but the fact that the policy programme is based on the promises made by the president to the electorate, it is of utmost importance to ensure that given the breath of journey in leadership of the country and party, those he entrusts with assisting him in the running of state affairs should focus on ensuring that having defeated the forces of imperialism, they assist him to put the country back on track so as to entrench his legacy rather than concentrating on wanting to urgently succeed immediately.

It does not make sense for anyone to pretend that succeeding a President who is only one year into his term is more urgent than assisting him reconstruct a battered national image which has been caused mainly by the forces of imperialism because of his stance on equitable distribution of means of production.

When the Vice President begins to face such serious allegations like the ones mentioned about Cde Mujuru it shows that all is not well and that she cannot be trusted with assisting the President run state or party affairs.

It would be folly to think that these are mere congress electioneering related issues because doing so will be a recipe for disaster. These are serious allegations that need serious scrutiny in order to unearth the truth, bring finality and take the necessary corrective measures before the situation degenerates into serious national chaos.

What must be understood is that the current allegations are not about a Vice President of a party plotting to unseat the party president but a Vice President of the country plotting to unseat the President using unconstitutional and criminal means.

These allegations are very serious if they are read within the historical context of the VP's association with hostile forces of the West that were the major cause of the country's economic decline including plotting for a military invasion as was revealed by former President Thabo Mbeki that the former Prime Minister of Britain Tony Blair wanted his assistance for a military attack on the country.

But with all these allegations, evidence presented from the Wikileaks is that she did have some conversation with the same people, the marrows of those conversations remain anyone's guess up to now but what is known is that she is the preferred candidate by the opposition on the strength that she is a moderate. It is yet to be told of what use is her moderate status to the powerful nations.

Again these serious allegations of assassination plots should be read within the context of the construction of Mavambo and Bhora Musango and how that was a strategy and indeed it worked by weakening in particular President Mugabe individually, that is why in that 2008 election he got 42 percent when Zanu-PF got 47 percent pointing at the creation of a force to weaken him and lead to his demise.

Further to that these allegations should be read with indications that she (cde Mujuru) had no interest in early elections as she wanted to use the GNU negotiations to out-negotiate President Mugabe from power in order to fulfil personal power and economic interests.

These were mentioned by the First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe when she gave some snippets of her corruption allegations and how they are linked to her appetite for growing masses of wealth at all costs.

Compounded with all this is her role in manipulation of party processes and procedures to a point of celebration that she is holding nine out 10 party provincial chairpersons.

How does a Vice President come to control of nine out of 10 provinces? This means that the President has only one, therefore she had worked on manipulation of the processes to outgun the president at congress. With control of nine out of 10 provinces through manipulation of processes it is clear that she had moved strides in that regards.

It is my argument that the Vice President is not an innocent defenceless widow as some would want to project her but rather a serious political schemer who has used all machinations to manipulate party processes and state apparatus to build a political base for herself. She has used unorthodox means and now her house built on sand is crumbling and she can't cry foul because those who live in glass houses should not have thrown the first stones in the first place.

Cde Mujuru is therefore not a victim of vitriolic patriarchal machinations but a major beneficiary of some flawed processes and a schemer whose game plan has been exposed before she hit the touch line.

In all my arguments, I am not discounting her important role in the liberation struggle but am arguing that the Vice President must come out and explain herself on these serious criminal allegations that have been laid bare in the public sphere.

It would not assist her to keep in a cocoon and pretend all is well or that she is an innocent sheep being led for slaughter by bloodthirsty chauvinists who are taking advantage of her unfortunate marital status.

The breakdown of her house of provincial chairmen is a clear signal that it was build on scandalous elections constructed not for party growth but for her personal political ends. Unfortunately, because time is the best equaliser it has come to tell the true tale of how weak that house was which was the reason why it was more celebrated by the opposition than party members themselves.

If the Vice President chooses to brush aside such serious allegations people should not be held responsible for thinking that she is a collaborator and the necessary sanctions that go with such actions will have to be applicable.

But even if that was to be done there is one thing that is clear about the position of Vice President Mujuru, there is an irretrievable breakdown in the partnership with President Mugabe and the two parties cannot continue to co-exist.

The situation which has clearly been fuelled by recent allegations bordering on criminal acts undoubtedly creates mistrust which does not allow a proper working relationship of the two, both at party and government level.

The basis for appointing one Vice President is trust and when that trust is broken down it becomes impossible to work with that person. Vice President Mujuru is well aware of that and should know that her options are limited as she cannot continue in that position.

The only available and credible option for Cde Mujuru is to resign from her position to allow for proper investigations without her influence or interference to unravel the truth on the allegations. It could be the best way of clearing her name if the allegations are without substance.

In fact this would not be the first time in Southern Africa that a Deputy President has moved aside to allow for investigations. It happened with the then President Jacob Zuma who when faced with serious corruption allegations stepped aside to allow for investigations. He was later cleared and took his job back and later rose to the number one position.

Cde Mujuru faces much more serious allegations than what was faced by the then Deputy President of South Africa and there is no doubt that these allegations have created a total breakdown of trust with her head.

The danger with a major breakdown of trust and relations between the President and his deputy is that it can lead to destabilisation of the country as what happened in Malawi, South Sudan and recently Lesotho.

In Malawi when the late President Bingu Wa Mutharika had a fallout with his deputy Joyce Banda, the West took advantage and entrenched a wedge which exacerbated economic decline and by extension national instability.

In South Sudan the fallout between President Salva Kiir and his Deputy Riek Machar has caused a civil war that has destabilised Africa's newest state and so far has left over 10,000 people dead.

In Lesotho the fallout between the Prime Minister Thabane and his deputy has caused instability and a coup which fortunately has been contained by a quick intervention of the Sadc but the situation remains tense and fragile.

A breakdown of trust and good relations between a state president and his deputy is therefore a serious matter which requires swift action before it leads to destabilisation of the country. This is the reason why Vice President Mujuru should not take these allegations as mere congress electioneering slogans but matters of serious state security that need her to allow for due processes to take place in order to clear herself and restore the breakdown in trust.

The same goes for the cabinet ministers in Mashonaland Central as one of them is said to be an accomplice in the whole plot.

Mashonaland Central has two Ministers in the name of Saviour Kasukuwere and Nicholas Goche, it is important for each of them to make a public pronouncement on the matter before it's too late.

However, should the Vice President think that the allegations are far-fetched to be serious it would be proper to allow for the necessary national state organs to make the necessary investigations and deal with the issue within the confines of national legal instruments and save the country from insecurity.

Alternatively the necessary party organs can deal with the matter within their confines and make a determination and pronouncements on her suitability to continue holding the office of Party and State Vice Presidency and help President Mugabe see through his term of office.

------------
Qhubani Moyo is a public policy analyst based in Bulawayo. He is contactable on qmoyo2000@yahoo.co.uk