Mujuru People First - Same script different puppet

Joice Mujuru held her inaugural Press conference as the leader of the Zimbabwe People First party at Meikles Hotel in Harare.

Mujuru looked rather smart and intelligent before she started her Press conference, but the moment she opened her mouth, all doubts regarding her foolishness were removed and it became apparent that ZPF is the same as all fickle opposition parties that have come before it. Same script, different puppet.

ZPF's ideology, if it can be called that, is suspiciously similar to that of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn and MDC (in all its variations) before it. Indeed, Zimbabweans once witnessed the same hullaballoo in 2008 when MKD leader Simba Makoni broke away from Zanu-PF to form his own party.

Like Makoni, Mujuru is also full of false confidence that many will follow her in her misguided project against Zanu-PF. Like Makoni, Mujuru's ego is inflated by false promises whispered in the dead of night by chameleons in Zanu-PF who will adopt whatever colour is trending and buy them lunch at a particular moment.

One of the first things Mujuru saw fit to declare was that her party would actively seek to engage the West. Without batting an eyelid and uncaring about the suffering that the sadistic West has wrought on Zimbabwe through their illegal sanctions, Mujuru proclaimed that, "Zimbabwe People First is committed to ensuring that Zimbabwe regains its rightful place in the global community of nations. We shall rejoin the Commonwealth. We will seek rapprochement with countries that are currently having poor diplomatic and difficult economic relations with us, without sacrificing our national sovereignty."

She also promised to set back all the gains of independence by questioning the land reform programme and indigenisation policy. That these two policies, among others, have set Zimbabwe and President Robert Mugabe apart as beacons of black emancipation is neither here nor there for Mujuru.

It would appear that all she and her not-so People First party are concerned about is pleasing their Western backers who have found a new and gender-quota sensitive puppet to push their regime change agenda. Mujuru's statement that "a whole review of the Indigenisation Act would be effected. A well-defined land policy should be instituted and properly administered to ensure full and sustainable utilisation of land by recipient.

"There should be an independent land audit to weed out multiple farm ownership", should send shivers down the spine of any self-respecting Zimbabwean – that such is the mindset of someone who purports to be representing the ordinary person.

It would be gullible and naïve to believe that Mujuru and her colleagues practise any of the values she preached at the ZPF launch. Is she not the famous "Dr 10 percent"?

Mujuru should save her "I am innocent" act for someone who is actually dumb enough to believe her. As one of the most powerful people in Zanu-PF during her tenure as Vice President, Mujuru soiled the name of the party by grabbing whatever she could lay her hands on. Her starting point should have been a sincere apology to the people of Zimbabwe for being a corrupt leader who only pretended to repent following her expulsion from Zanu-PF.

Her claims that she had always been a voice of dissent within Zanu-PF are best reserved for a nursery rhyme book, not the ears of sober Zimbabweans. The old adage that a leopard does not change its spots has been proven to be true time and again. Why should Mujuru be any different?

The belief betrayed by other opposition parties that Mujuru will bring "valuable inside information" on ZANU-PF, as hilariously declared by the likes of Jacob Mafume, is akin to believing that a woman divorced for being unfaithful will bring valuable information on how to keep a marriage strong. The only "inside information" on Zanu-PF that Mujuru knows is her own corrupt deeds that saw her eventually being booted out.

What the likes of MDC-T, ZAPU and People's Democratic Party need to acknowledge is that Zanu-PF has no secret machinery that makes it unbeatable. What maintains Zanu-PF in power is the fact that it is the only party to date whose policies are people-driven and anchored on the emancipation of the black masses. These same policies are what Mujuru and her bunch of Zanu-PF cast-offs are seeking to overturn, at the behest of their puppet masters.

It is rather sad that whole political parties, albeit opposition parties, would celebrate Zanu-PF's leftovers. It is only a person of questionable sanity who would celebrate the fact that the garbage his neighbour threw out landed in his yard.

It doesn't matter who parted ways with who, whether Mujuru resigned first or was fired, the fact remains that the action was precipitated by her underhand and un-liberation like behaviour. Zimbabwe has previously seen similar hulabaloo and frenzied energy over the emergence of perceived champion opposition leaders capable of dethroning Zanu-PF. Those so-called champions are all faded broken records by now. So too shall the Mujuru craze pass as people discover her true colours and motives.

Already, the entrance of ZPF has caused confusion not in Zanu-PF, but in opposition parties, with various party officials in MDC-T and ZAPU issuing conflicting statements on whether they would work with her or not. What it means is that the final decision will not be based on what the grassroots supporters of these parties want, but what nefarious deals can be hatched between equally unscrupulous and greedy opposition leaders and Mujuru, similar to her "10 percent" arrangements.