Opinion / Columnist
Mugabe dumps liberation values
26 Nov 2014 at 11:49hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe is constructing a reconfigured personalised rule, or a regime unbounded by rules - one that operates at total variance with the ruling party's 1980 manifesto.
The ruling party's politburo has bestowed upon Zanu-PF's first secretary the authority to allow internal Zanu-PF elections at its December 2 to 7 "elective congress" to be suspended, and enabling the 90-year-old president to directly appoint his deputies, giving himself wide discretionary powers to anoint his successor.
Zanu-PF's No. 1 policy according to its 1980 manifesto was to liberate Zimbabwe from colonial bondage and establish a "nationalist, socialist, Pan-Africanist and democratic Republic of Zimbabwe."
One of the major beliefs of Zanu-PF, according to one of its 12 beliefs, is that "Zanu-PF believes that power must vest in the people both in respect of the party and in respect of the government of the country."
"This is why Zanu-PF wants DEMOCRACY in Zimbabwe, requiring that there should be democratic elections based on adult suffrage to enable the people to choose their own government," the 1980 manifesto reads.
Yet Mugabe and his politburo have unilaterally changed the Zanu-PF party to allow him to handpick his deputies, in a move that flies in the face of the 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto's preamble, signifying the ruling party's dramatic descent into personalism - which entails immense discretionary power for the Zanu-PF leader, and conforms to popular notions of autocratic governance as "rule by one man."
Zimbabwe's 10 provinces' power to elect the two Zanu-PF deputies have been stripped and the politburo has placed total power in the hands of the first secretary, typically with the justification of protecting the ruling party from internal threats and restoring stability.
In reality, however, the emergency-like powers are being systematically employed not only to confront legitimate internal challenges but to intimidate, harass, or persecute opponents loyal to Mugabe's potential successor, Joice Mujuru.
The beleaguered ruling party has accused half of its top leadership of being "a fifth column" which is controlled by Mugabe's deputy Mujuru, with all her key allies now either suspended or fired for backing her.
By his threatening actions and treason and graft allegations levelled against the embattled Mujuru, Mugabe is purposely trying to rile up Zanu-PF voters and intimidate any remaining pragmatic politicians in his quest for near-total control of the party, just as an oligarch holds absolute power of his company.
Concurrent with this, Mugabe is forging a very narrow but loyal coterie of followers, whose lifestyles, indeed lives, depend on allegiance to him and his wife Grace.
The suspension of internal elections is one of the most controversial periods of Zanu-PF's history.
It also shows that the ruling party is on the brink of self-implosion given the endgame in the face of such a huge disenfranchised constituency.
The unstable result of this is the dystopian descent of Zanu-PF towards personalised dictatorship, all with the enthusiastic backing of the politburo.
Not only that, but Zanu-PF has an extensive history of human rights abuses and political oppression, so there is already a discernible track record for what can happen to those who disagree with Mugabe's grand plan.
Another of Mugabe's pursuits is to split Zanu-PF from Mujuru and whip up belligerent rhetoric against the widowed VP that she plotted to assassinate the president ahead of the 6th Zanu-PF congress, with the hope that voters will agree to suspend the motions of democracy imprinted in the party's 1980 manifesto in ousting his political adversaries under the guise of "patriotism."
Although this deepens the political tumult in the ruling party, it conveniently takes the focus away from the deepening economic crisis and misleadingly blames the country's problems on internal Zanu-PF enemies.
Mugabe is engaging in a calculated risky move to centralise control over the party, but he is dangerously faced with a Catch-22.
He wants to increase his power on the back of nationalists such as Emmerson "Ngwena" Mnangagwa who could land the vice presidency after Mujuru is dumped in the rubbish heap, but Ngwena's power and ambitions will only grow along with Mugabe's and can likely turn on him in the future.
Mnangagwa, the scheming Zanu-PF legal affairs secretary, Justice and Legal Affairs minister and an increasingly visible successor to Mugabe, has tried to convince party supporters that he was best-suited to succeed Mugabe and run the 51-year-old party hampered by factionalism and corruption, and has also demonstrated the patience and steely endurance amid endorsement from the First Lady.
Autocratic regimes like the one Mugabe is installing attract less investment, and experience less economic growth.
More often than not, when these regimes fall, the end is more likely to be violent and sudden, like in the case of Libyan tyrant Muammar Gaddafi regime who was killed by a youthful rebel.
In light of all this, Zanu-PF now needs to take stock whether it is still loyal to its founding principle, and whether it has created the kind of society it envisaged when it earned independence in 1980 after a protracted bush war with the minority settler regime.
The 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto envisaged that come congress time, the ruling party's system of voting forces supporters to engage in the process and voters were urged to take their duty seriously.
Yet, the politburo unilaterally took away this suffrage last weekend, and clearly this has worrying trends attached to it.
The attempt to clean out Mujuru loyalists in the name of a clean-up has been such a disaster that recriminations are taking on a life of their own.
There are mounting fears of a split.
Even after the monumental disaster of the purge, Zanu-PF is descending into a deadly leadership fight.
The cabal that dreamed up the strategy to purge Mujuru loyalists, are trying to dislodge some of the most well-liked MPs.
The attempt to get rid of the Mujuru loyalists has already broken many traditions in the party, including paying respect to elders.
In itself, it is a dangerous strategy; but the implementation of the strategy is becoming even more disastrous.
Does this Mujuru purge and her loyalists warrant the suspension of Zanu-PF rules and elections?
All of the good things that this nation stood for at birth can be found in the 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto. They are almost biblical principles.
The 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto is anchored on 13 fundamental rights and freedoms:
1. Franchise rights (yet elections have been suspended)
2. Freedom of speech, assembly, association, procession, demonstration and strike action (yet dissenting officials have been booted out).
3. Freedom of religion and role of the Church.
4. The right to work and the right to a fair wage
5. Freedom from racial discrimination
6. Freedom of person and his home
7. The right to education
8. The right of women to equality with men
9. The right to life
10. The right to rest and leisure
11. Freedom from hunger
12. Right to personal property
13. The right of recourse to courts.
Zanu-PF's 1980 manifesto is the cornerstone of Zimbabwe's liberty.
The nation State we call Zimbabwe today was founded on this manifesto.
Of all the political systems of morality in post-independent Zimbabwe, none appears so pure as that of the 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto which the party is now conveniently trashing.
Stories of deviation of the movement from its founding principles are standard fare for criticism of liberation movements of all persuasions.
But measured against their Sadc liberation movement contemporaries, Zanu-PF has become the worst, from leadership regeneration now to outright tinkering of the constitution to consolidate rule by one man.
So it should not take too long for Zanu-PF to pore over the entrails of these latest developments and realign the party to its founding values.
Zanu-PF must revisit the party's founding principles.
Put simply, the 1980 manifesto prescribes a better and more decent way of life for all.
Instead of running from the ideology fight or quitting, Zanu-PF officials have to find the courage to break the bad news to Mugabe and the powerful Zanu-PF heavyweights pulling the strings right now that they have not been paying their fair share and it is time they did in the interests of the voting masses, and reinstate their voting rights.
The 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto has more decency and dignity and the best of human qualities than any other political document.
But it is forgotten, gathering dust somewhere as the Zanu-PF ship loses course. The 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto cannot possibly stand if our country is given over to immorality, idle talk, and the evilness that she is facing right now.
Just as the manifesto says in its introduction that this country came through "action, action and consistently more action," perhaps it is time to revisit this document and implement its recommendations.
Only by re-engaging with this ethos can the party avert an imminent split and shore up its diminishing support base and bring the natural constituents back into the fold.
If it cannot do that, many Zimbabweans who prefer a reformed Zanu-PF, will be the poorer for it.
Zanu-PF must come to terms with its role as a modern political party.
The faction system, which was once based on a battle of ideas between left and right and the meaning of a democratic socialist party, has been supplanted with a factional system based on personalities.
The dominant Mnangagwa faction has created a personal fiefdom, imposing its hegemony on Zanu-PF, with the backing of the first family.
The factional system is in fact worse than the so-called bad old days of Zanu-PF because, without ideas, the acrimony is based on personal hatreds, paybacks and revenge.
Zanu-PF has in-fact failed to make the transformation from a liberation movement rooted in socialism to a modern political party which is in touch with everyday working and non-working Zimbabweans, who are in the majority, and who believe Mujuru must succeed Mugabe.
The ruling party's politburo has bestowed upon Zanu-PF's first secretary the authority to allow internal Zanu-PF elections at its December 2 to 7 "elective congress" to be suspended, and enabling the 90-year-old president to directly appoint his deputies, giving himself wide discretionary powers to anoint his successor.
Zanu-PF's No. 1 policy according to its 1980 manifesto was to liberate Zimbabwe from colonial bondage and establish a "nationalist, socialist, Pan-Africanist and democratic Republic of Zimbabwe."
One of the major beliefs of Zanu-PF, according to one of its 12 beliefs, is that "Zanu-PF believes that power must vest in the people both in respect of the party and in respect of the government of the country."
"This is why Zanu-PF wants DEMOCRACY in Zimbabwe, requiring that there should be democratic elections based on adult suffrage to enable the people to choose their own government," the 1980 manifesto reads.
Yet Mugabe and his politburo have unilaterally changed the Zanu-PF party to allow him to handpick his deputies, in a move that flies in the face of the 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto's preamble, signifying the ruling party's dramatic descent into personalism - which entails immense discretionary power for the Zanu-PF leader, and conforms to popular notions of autocratic governance as "rule by one man."
Zimbabwe's 10 provinces' power to elect the two Zanu-PF deputies have been stripped and the politburo has placed total power in the hands of the first secretary, typically with the justification of protecting the ruling party from internal threats and restoring stability.
In reality, however, the emergency-like powers are being systematically employed not only to confront legitimate internal challenges but to intimidate, harass, or persecute opponents loyal to Mugabe's potential successor, Joice Mujuru.
The beleaguered ruling party has accused half of its top leadership of being "a fifth column" which is controlled by Mugabe's deputy Mujuru, with all her key allies now either suspended or fired for backing her.
By his threatening actions and treason and graft allegations levelled against the embattled Mujuru, Mugabe is purposely trying to rile up Zanu-PF voters and intimidate any remaining pragmatic politicians in his quest for near-total control of the party, just as an oligarch holds absolute power of his company.
Concurrent with this, Mugabe is forging a very narrow but loyal coterie of followers, whose lifestyles, indeed lives, depend on allegiance to him and his wife Grace.
The suspension of internal elections is one of the most controversial periods of Zanu-PF's history.
It also shows that the ruling party is on the brink of self-implosion given the endgame in the face of such a huge disenfranchised constituency.
The unstable result of this is the dystopian descent of Zanu-PF towards personalised dictatorship, all with the enthusiastic backing of the politburo.
Not only that, but Zanu-PF has an extensive history of human rights abuses and political oppression, so there is already a discernible track record for what can happen to those who disagree with Mugabe's grand plan.
Another of Mugabe's pursuits is to split Zanu-PF from Mujuru and whip up belligerent rhetoric against the widowed VP that she plotted to assassinate the president ahead of the 6th Zanu-PF congress, with the hope that voters will agree to suspend the motions of democracy imprinted in the party's 1980 manifesto in ousting his political adversaries under the guise of "patriotism."
Although this deepens the political tumult in the ruling party, it conveniently takes the focus away from the deepening economic crisis and misleadingly blames the country's problems on internal Zanu-PF enemies.
Mugabe is engaging in a calculated risky move to centralise control over the party, but he is dangerously faced with a Catch-22.
He wants to increase his power on the back of nationalists such as Emmerson "Ngwena" Mnangagwa who could land the vice presidency after Mujuru is dumped in the rubbish heap, but Ngwena's power and ambitions will only grow along with Mugabe's and can likely turn on him in the future.
Mnangagwa, the scheming Zanu-PF legal affairs secretary, Justice and Legal Affairs minister and an increasingly visible successor to Mugabe, has tried to convince party supporters that he was best-suited to succeed Mugabe and run the 51-year-old party hampered by factionalism and corruption, and has also demonstrated the patience and steely endurance amid endorsement from the First Lady.
Autocratic regimes like the one Mugabe is installing attract less investment, and experience less economic growth.
More often than not, when these regimes fall, the end is more likely to be violent and sudden, like in the case of Libyan tyrant Muammar Gaddafi regime who was killed by a youthful rebel.
In light of all this, Zanu-PF now needs to take stock whether it is still loyal to its founding principle, and whether it has created the kind of society it envisaged when it earned independence in 1980 after a protracted bush war with the minority settler regime.
The 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto envisaged that come congress time, the ruling party's system of voting forces supporters to engage in the process and voters were urged to take their duty seriously.
Yet, the politburo unilaterally took away this suffrage last weekend, and clearly this has worrying trends attached to it.
The attempt to clean out Mujuru loyalists in the name of a clean-up has been such a disaster that recriminations are taking on a life of their own.
There are mounting fears of a split.
Even after the monumental disaster of the purge, Zanu-PF is descending into a deadly leadership fight.
The cabal that dreamed up the strategy to purge Mujuru loyalists, are trying to dislodge some of the most well-liked MPs.
The attempt to get rid of the Mujuru loyalists has already broken many traditions in the party, including paying respect to elders.
In itself, it is a dangerous strategy; but the implementation of the strategy is becoming even more disastrous.
Does this Mujuru purge and her loyalists warrant the suspension of Zanu-PF rules and elections?
All of the good things that this nation stood for at birth can be found in the 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto. They are almost biblical principles.
The 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto is anchored on 13 fundamental rights and freedoms:
1. Franchise rights (yet elections have been suspended)
2. Freedom of speech, assembly, association, procession, demonstration and strike action (yet dissenting officials have been booted out).
3. Freedom of religion and role of the Church.
4. The right to work and the right to a fair wage
5. Freedom from racial discrimination
6. Freedom of person and his home
7. The right to education
8. The right of women to equality with men
9. The right to life
10. The right to rest and leisure
11. Freedom from hunger
12. Right to personal property
13. The right of recourse to courts.
Zanu-PF's 1980 manifesto is the cornerstone of Zimbabwe's liberty.
The nation State we call Zimbabwe today was founded on this manifesto.
Of all the political systems of morality in post-independent Zimbabwe, none appears so pure as that of the 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto which the party is now conveniently trashing.
Stories of deviation of the movement from its founding principles are standard fare for criticism of liberation movements of all persuasions.
But measured against their Sadc liberation movement contemporaries, Zanu-PF has become the worst, from leadership regeneration now to outright tinkering of the constitution to consolidate rule by one man.
So it should not take too long for Zanu-PF to pore over the entrails of these latest developments and realign the party to its founding values.
Zanu-PF must revisit the party's founding principles.
Put simply, the 1980 manifesto prescribes a better and more decent way of life for all.
Instead of running from the ideology fight or quitting, Zanu-PF officials have to find the courage to break the bad news to Mugabe and the powerful Zanu-PF heavyweights pulling the strings right now that they have not been paying their fair share and it is time they did in the interests of the voting masses, and reinstate their voting rights.
The 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto has more decency and dignity and the best of human qualities than any other political document.
But it is forgotten, gathering dust somewhere as the Zanu-PF ship loses course. The 1980 Zanu-PF manifesto cannot possibly stand if our country is given over to immorality, idle talk, and the evilness that she is facing right now.
Just as the manifesto says in its introduction that this country came through "action, action and consistently more action," perhaps it is time to revisit this document and implement its recommendations.
Only by re-engaging with this ethos can the party avert an imminent split and shore up its diminishing support base and bring the natural constituents back into the fold.
If it cannot do that, many Zimbabweans who prefer a reformed Zanu-PF, will be the poorer for it.
Zanu-PF must come to terms with its role as a modern political party.
The faction system, which was once based on a battle of ideas between left and right and the meaning of a democratic socialist party, has been supplanted with a factional system based on personalities.
The dominant Mnangagwa faction has created a personal fiefdom, imposing its hegemony on Zanu-PF, with the backing of the first family.
The factional system is in fact worse than the so-called bad old days of Zanu-PF because, without ideas, the acrimony is based on personal hatreds, paybacks and revenge.
Zanu-PF has in-fact failed to make the transformation from a liberation movement rooted in socialism to a modern political party which is in touch with everyday working and non-working Zimbabweans, who are in the majority, and who believe Mujuru must succeed Mugabe.
Source - dailynews
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