No threat to Mugabe's AU and Sadc reign

The so-called political analysts tend to think that their views are so impeccable to the extent that they can sway the public opinion into believing their misguided perceptive. It is these myopic and biased minds that pour malicious and dangerous conclusions on trustworthy people as to make them believe their misconstrued as infallible.

As such the story carried out on 19 January 2015, titled "Zanu PF Feud Threatens Mugabe's AU, SADC reign," cannot go unchallenged. This story which has no merits and content worth talking about says there are some fears that President Mugabe might not be able to fully discharge his duties as AU and SADC Chairman after his leave in the Far East because of the alleged feud that is taking place in his ruling Zanu-PF party.

The story which quoted one Charles Mangongera who is regarded as an analyst by this newspaper, said that President Mugabe's reign in SADC and AU will be seriously affected by domestic problems that are currently taking place in Zimbabwe. Mangongera further said that President Mugabe was failing to keep peace in his party hence he would find it difficult to keep peace in Africa where the continent is facing problems in Lesotho, Mozambique, South Sudan and terrorism caused by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

The story wants to make people view Zanu-PF as at war. In actual fact the story is painting a gloomy picture on everything that is taking place in the country making those not in the picture of what is really taking place in the country to believe such a story.

For the record, there is nothing sinister in the country that can stop the President from discharging his duties as the Chairman of the SADC region and the AU bloc. The so called feud in Zanu-PF is only in the eyes of those who think that the dismissal of the former Vice President Joyce Mujuru could spell doom to Zanu-PF. People should realize that the dismissal of the former VP Mujuru cannot be said to be a problem that could make President Mugabe fail to discharge some duties assigned to him by both SADC and AU bodies.

For those who are not aware of what is taking place in the country, Zimbabwe is at peace with everyone and there is nothing happening that can be said to be threatening any peace in the country. Only the sympathizers of former Vice President Mujuru see problems taking place in the country as the dismissal of her came at a time when they were busy plotting to topple the Head of State and Government for her to take over the reins.

To them, such unexpected dismissal of former Vice President Mujuru from government by President Mugabe had sent shockwaves to the country to the extent that her supporters are now creating fictitious problems in the country as to cause alarm and despondency in Zimbabwe. In actual fact this country has no problems that can cause President Mugabe's failure to discharge his duties at the international fora. It is only on the eyes of the supporters of the former Vice President Mujuru who are thinking otherwise.

People should recall that during the height of the Gukurahundi era when the dissident menace was causing all sort of problems in the country, Zimbabwe managed to safely host the 8th Non-Allied Movement (NAM) Summit from 1 to 6 September 1986 without problems. The Summit which was attended by more than hundred Heads of States and Governments was successful and President Mugabe, then Prime minister of Zimbabwe was able to host and became the Chairman of one of the international grouping despite the fact that the dissidents were causing havoc in the country.

So if President Mugabe who was then facing the menace caused by dissidents in the 1980s managed to host NAM, what would cause the same President to superintend  the SADC and AU bodies now that there is nothing near to what the dissident era caused in the country. People who witnessed what happened in the Matabeleland and the Midlands regions would testify that today's problems cannot be said to be serious to the extent of causing the President to fail his duties on the international arena.

In actual fact President Mugabe did not only host NAM when things were not going well in the country but he went on to become the Chairman of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1991. From 16 to 21 October 1991, President Mugabe hosted CHOGM during the time when Zanu-PF supporters were divided over Zanu-PF and Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) led by Edgar Tekere then the former Secretary General of Zanu PF. During the CHOGM there was really confusion in the country as Zanu-PF found its supporters divided on which party to support between Zanu-PF and ZUM as that splinter group was characteristics similar to what Zanu-PF was all about.

As such the current situation in the country cannot be said to be tense to the extent that President Mugabe could find it difficult to do his normal duties as expected by everyone in the international community in general and in the country in particular. The said problems are not new to the veteran leader in form of President Mugabe and he has been able to tackle such problems carefully without him failing to discharge his duties. For that reason people should not rush into giving false conclusions in the hope that they would satisfy their appetite for falsehood.

President Mugabe is a very intelligent and experienced leader who cannot be diverted from doing his duties by petty issues perpetuated by misguided elements in Zanu-PF. He has power and mentality to walk through such problems the same way he has managed to do that in history which made Zimbabwe to become peaceful for the past thirty-five years, he has been in power.

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Hanyani Matitemba can be contacted at mhanyani@yahoo.com