Opinion / Columnist
Mugabe created factionalism, now wife is losing rat-race he threatens the media
11 Oct 2015 at 15:53hrs | Views
Charamba can deny there is no serious infighting going on in Zanu PF the truth is there is.
"He works so well with his two Vice Presidents and the two Vice Presidents work so well with each other. Decisions in the party are done consensually. They are not done by factions because they don't exist," he said.
Of course there are two warring factions and VP Mpoko has nothing to do with any of the warring factions. He was roped in to attend Grace Mugabe's Chimanimani rally only to be humiliated and completely ignored.
Mnangagwa and Grace are the leaders of the two factions fighting it out to be Mugabe's successor.
Factionalism is a nonsense charge made against Joice Mujuru by none other than Mugabe and his wife Grace. Mujuru had amassed the support of 8 out of the 10 provinces going into an elective congress. She and her supporters should have known better that Mugabe is a control freak who has never tolerated anyone in the party being seen as popular with party members or the electorate.
In 2004 Mnangagwa was set to win the VP position after amassing the support of 6 out of the 10 provinces. Mugabe step in the last minute and unconstitutional and unilaterally changed the party's constitution demanding that the position could only be filled by a woman. So Mugabe effectively vetoed the party members' electoral wish. Mugabe nominated Mujuru and congress just rubber stamped his wish.
In 2014 it was Mujuru, a woman, who had the mass support and so Mugabe had to come up with something else to stop her being elected by popular vote. So she was accused of this new crime "factionalism" because she had 8 out of 10 provinces set to vote for her. Mnangagwa, her main challenger for the position who had the support of the remaining 2 provinces was NOT accused of "factionalism" and Mugabe appointed him VP.
The operative phrase is "Mugabe appointed" Mnangagwa VP and not the party members making Mnangagwa beholden to Mugabe and not the party members just as Mujuru was beholden to Mugabe in 2004 and until 2014 when she was kicked out of the party.
If Mujuru had been elected VP in last year's elective congress that would have put her in pole position to be Mugabe's successor that is why she had to be stopped by hook or by crook. It was Grace Mugabe who led the campaign to "baby dump" Mujuru, as she so crudely put because she wants to be Mugabe's successor, she made that very clear too from the start.
"Am I not a Zimbabwean?" She asked, rhetorically.
Having successfully "baby dumped" the unlucky Mujuru Grace faced up to Mnangagwa who saw the demise of Mujuru as the renewal of his long cherished hope of being Mugabe's successor. Mnangagwa was not accused of leading a faction last year going into the elective congress but as soon as that was out of the way and Mujuru well and truly "dumped" he was on Grace's cross wires, he was accused of leading a faction.
Unfortunately for Grace "baby dumping" Mujuru was easy doing the same with Mnangagwa is proving to be near impossible.
Mnangagwa was going to lose to Mujuru last year because many people in the party did not trust him. He is nicknamed Ngwena, crocodile, and many members trust him as much as you and I would trust a crocodile. Still Mnangagwa had a lot more followers than Mugabe, he is the ruthless loner who was feared by all but trusted by no one.
So poor Grace has inherited very few followers from her husband, hers is a faction of opportunists who had never fitted anywhere and have never had any followings themselves; people like Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao. The former is a clever strategist but totally untrustworthy; Mugabe himself has called him a "weevil" and "devil incarnate"!
As for the latter, Patrick Zhuwao, he is being roped in to beef up the Grace faction because he is Mugabe's nephew and Grace is desperate for more members. Zhuwao was a Zanu PF MP before, nobody noticed him back then because he is a feather and feathers do not make even a ripple. Mugabe has since brought him back and appointed him Minister of Youth and Empowerment and poor Zhuwao has been doing his best to create waves only to make a complete ass of himself.
Even some of the nut-cases in Zanu PF have finally come round to accepting that the party's indigenisation law forcing foreigners to give up 51% of their shares will empower the ruling elite in theory but not in practice. The foreign investors have shied away from Zimbabwe and left the Chef with 51% ownership of nothing! The party was now ready to ditch this law as a lost cause only for Zhuwao to adopt it as his cause celebre!
The obnoxious indigenisation law is one of the root causes of the country's worsening economic meltdown as the economic hardship get worse the whole nation will demand the scrapping of such stupid laws. The indigenisation law is doomed and so is Minister Zhuwao and so too is Grace's faction!
Mugabe created this new animal called factionalism to justify Grace's savage attack of Joice Mujuru and as used it to justify her attack of VP Mnangagwa. Now that it is clear her campaign to ouster Mnangagwa is getting nowhere Mugabe wants to pretend there is no factional fighting in his party. Indeed he is now accusing the media of creating this animal and threatening to punish all those who continue to report of Zanu PF infighting!
"Its clear that this (reporting on Zanu PF's intensifying factional wars) is now manipulative reporting. Its not longer professional reporting. Mind you laws are not models. They have to be tethered in social reality. We might have best model laws for media legislation, they will never be transposed to Zimbabwe," warned Mugabe's spokesman, George Chamba. "Zimbabwe must still look at its own situation and then make laws that respond to that situation. Now the situation we are having is one of media excesses and vasazochema (should not cry)."
Mugabe is a sick and old man; that is a fact. Mugabe is mortal just like every other living thing on this earth; not even the regular trips to Singapore, in 2012 he made no fewer than 8 such trips at $3 million @ trip, will keep him alive for much longer – that too is a fact. Once Mugabe is incapacitated or died someone has to take over from him and since he has time and again frustrated all efforts to this resolved once and once for all he has per se imposed this factional and fractious rat-race.
Threatening to muzzle the media will not change the fact that Mugabe is not immortal or end the rat-race to find his successor. The rat-race will go on regardless of the muzzle, threats or even murders – Mugabe's most tried and trusted way of silencing his opponents, critics, reporters, etc. The regime is being torn apart by the factional fighting and regardless who wins the race the is one thing that is certain, Zanu PF is losing it's strangle hold on power. Regime change is as certain now as the sun rising tomorrow.
Yes George Charamba, Zanu PF can institute its most brutal reign of terror in its dying days, worse than anything the regime has inflicted on the nation these last 35 years. Ask yourself, George whether that will stop regime change?
Woe to tyrant and all his thugs and acolytes for dragged this nation into this political and economic nightmare, when regime change happens, as it is now set to happen, they will have a lot to account for! That is no empty threat Charamba, watch this space!
"He works so well with his two Vice Presidents and the two Vice Presidents work so well with each other. Decisions in the party are done consensually. They are not done by factions because they don't exist," he said.
Of course there are two warring factions and VP Mpoko has nothing to do with any of the warring factions. He was roped in to attend Grace Mugabe's Chimanimani rally only to be humiliated and completely ignored.
Mnangagwa and Grace are the leaders of the two factions fighting it out to be Mugabe's successor.
Factionalism is a nonsense charge made against Joice Mujuru by none other than Mugabe and his wife Grace. Mujuru had amassed the support of 8 out of the 10 provinces going into an elective congress. She and her supporters should have known better that Mugabe is a control freak who has never tolerated anyone in the party being seen as popular with party members or the electorate.
In 2004 Mnangagwa was set to win the VP position after amassing the support of 6 out of the 10 provinces. Mugabe step in the last minute and unconstitutional and unilaterally changed the party's constitution demanding that the position could only be filled by a woman. So Mugabe effectively vetoed the party members' electoral wish. Mugabe nominated Mujuru and congress just rubber stamped his wish.
In 2014 it was Mujuru, a woman, who had the mass support and so Mugabe had to come up with something else to stop her being elected by popular vote. So she was accused of this new crime "factionalism" because she had 8 out of 10 provinces set to vote for her. Mnangagwa, her main challenger for the position who had the support of the remaining 2 provinces was NOT accused of "factionalism" and Mugabe appointed him VP.
The operative phrase is "Mugabe appointed" Mnangagwa VP and not the party members making Mnangagwa beholden to Mugabe and not the party members just as Mujuru was beholden to Mugabe in 2004 and until 2014 when she was kicked out of the party.
If Mujuru had been elected VP in last year's elective congress that would have put her in pole position to be Mugabe's successor that is why she had to be stopped by hook or by crook. It was Grace Mugabe who led the campaign to "baby dump" Mujuru, as she so crudely put because she wants to be Mugabe's successor, she made that very clear too from the start.
"Am I not a Zimbabwean?" She asked, rhetorically.
Having successfully "baby dumped" the unlucky Mujuru Grace faced up to Mnangagwa who saw the demise of Mujuru as the renewal of his long cherished hope of being Mugabe's successor. Mnangagwa was not accused of leading a faction last year going into the elective congress but as soon as that was out of the way and Mujuru well and truly "dumped" he was on Grace's cross wires, he was accused of leading a faction.
Unfortunately for Grace "baby dumping" Mujuru was easy doing the same with Mnangagwa is proving to be near impossible.
Mnangagwa was going to lose to Mujuru last year because many people in the party did not trust him. He is nicknamed Ngwena, crocodile, and many members trust him as much as you and I would trust a crocodile. Still Mnangagwa had a lot more followers than Mugabe, he is the ruthless loner who was feared by all but trusted by no one.
So poor Grace has inherited very few followers from her husband, hers is a faction of opportunists who had never fitted anywhere and have never had any followings themselves; people like Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao. The former is a clever strategist but totally untrustworthy; Mugabe himself has called him a "weevil" and "devil incarnate"!
As for the latter, Patrick Zhuwao, he is being roped in to beef up the Grace faction because he is Mugabe's nephew and Grace is desperate for more members. Zhuwao was a Zanu PF MP before, nobody noticed him back then because he is a feather and feathers do not make even a ripple. Mugabe has since brought him back and appointed him Minister of Youth and Empowerment and poor Zhuwao has been doing his best to create waves only to make a complete ass of himself.
Even some of the nut-cases in Zanu PF have finally come round to accepting that the party's indigenisation law forcing foreigners to give up 51% of their shares will empower the ruling elite in theory but not in practice. The foreign investors have shied away from Zimbabwe and left the Chef with 51% ownership of nothing! The party was now ready to ditch this law as a lost cause only for Zhuwao to adopt it as his cause celebre!
The obnoxious indigenisation law is one of the root causes of the country's worsening economic meltdown as the economic hardship get worse the whole nation will demand the scrapping of such stupid laws. The indigenisation law is doomed and so is Minister Zhuwao and so too is Grace's faction!
Mugabe created this new animal called factionalism to justify Grace's savage attack of Joice Mujuru and as used it to justify her attack of VP Mnangagwa. Now that it is clear her campaign to ouster Mnangagwa is getting nowhere Mugabe wants to pretend there is no factional fighting in his party. Indeed he is now accusing the media of creating this animal and threatening to punish all those who continue to report of Zanu PF infighting!
"Its clear that this (reporting on Zanu PF's intensifying factional wars) is now manipulative reporting. Its not longer professional reporting. Mind you laws are not models. They have to be tethered in social reality. We might have best model laws for media legislation, they will never be transposed to Zimbabwe," warned Mugabe's spokesman, George Chamba. "Zimbabwe must still look at its own situation and then make laws that respond to that situation. Now the situation we are having is one of media excesses and vasazochema (should not cry)."
Mugabe is a sick and old man; that is a fact. Mugabe is mortal just like every other living thing on this earth; not even the regular trips to Singapore, in 2012 he made no fewer than 8 such trips at $3 million @ trip, will keep him alive for much longer – that too is a fact. Once Mugabe is incapacitated or died someone has to take over from him and since he has time and again frustrated all efforts to this resolved once and once for all he has per se imposed this factional and fractious rat-race.
Threatening to muzzle the media will not change the fact that Mugabe is not immortal or end the rat-race to find his successor. The rat-race will go on regardless of the muzzle, threats or even murders – Mugabe's most tried and trusted way of silencing his opponents, critics, reporters, etc. The regime is being torn apart by the factional fighting and regardless who wins the race the is one thing that is certain, Zanu PF is losing it's strangle hold on power. Regime change is as certain now as the sun rising tomorrow.
Yes George Charamba, Zanu PF can institute its most brutal reign of terror in its dying days, worse than anything the regime has inflicted on the nation these last 35 years. Ask yourself, George whether that will stop regime change?
Woe to tyrant and all his thugs and acolytes for dragged this nation into this political and economic nightmare, when regime change happens, as it is now set to happen, they will have a lot to account for! That is no empty threat Charamba, watch this space!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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