'Mujuru expulsion marks Zanu-PF's demise'

Former Zanu-PF provincial spokesperson (Masvingo) and Zimbabwe National Liberation Army (Zanla) political commissar - Retired Lt. Colonel Kudzai Sevias Mbudzi believes his former party is headed for defeat in the 2018 elections in which a grand coalition of opposition political parties, led by Joice Mujuru, will spell the end of President Robert Mugabe's rule.

He speaks to Senior Assistant Editor Guthrie Munyuki and below are the excerpts of the interview.

Q: As a former Zanu-PF official, a war veteran and ex-military officer, how much of an influence do the war veterans wield in today's murky politics?

A: Not much because at times we allowed ourselves to be used to fight other people's unholy political wars, sometimes against the interests of the broad spectrum of the Zimbabwean people whom we purportedly claimed to have liberated.

Some war vets at times have then been used as dust pans. At times we then over-indulged. We forgot that our primary noble role "was" liberation of this country, not preservation of the power of the incumbency.

Q: First Lady Grace Mugabe and Zanu-PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere have questioned and attacked the behaviour of some of the war veterans - but people such as yourselves have said the attacks are wrong, why?

A: The attacks were wrong, especially as they were more derogatory and not lashed out for constructive reasons; more so by such persons of dubious personalities and character like the ever hallucinating Grace and political quisling Saviour Kasukuwere.

The two have not done anything to show even for the positions they occupy in post-congress Zanu-PF except simply being close to the appointing and anointing President.

Q: How do the expulsion of Joice Mujuru and the current power struggles in Zanu-PF shape the party's politics going forward?

A: To me, whatever happens now in Zanu-PF is their own business and I am not very much concerned. But Mai Mujuru had the support of more than 85 percent of the pre-congress Zanu-PF. As such, the other 15 percent comprises then the full membership of post-congress Zanu-PF.

Her expulsion was a comfort and advantage in disguise because political contestation for Zimbabwe's top political leadership will now forever change the face of Zimbabwean politics and how the country will be governed from 2018 going forward.

With the insoluble political antagonisms that exist within Zanu-PF, her expulsion was then an inevitable necessity which in the long term should be viewed as being highly beneficial to the people of Zimbabwe.

But for Zanu-PF, her expulsion marks its demise and the beginning of its complete disappearance as a political unit and one doesn't need to look beyond the current mayhem to vindicate this claim.

Q: We saw the involvement of the military in the Zanu-PF restructuring exercise in 2011 and 2012 before the 2013 elections; does this mean the military has a role in Zanu-PF politics?

A: Not at all. There are some elements within the security service who have this self-importance feeling and therefore mistaken belief that they are custodial to Zanu-PF politics.

Some see Zanu-PF as a retiring home, while a few have ambitions to also become Zimbabwe's next despots, with Zanu-PF being the convenient entry point as they fought under the umbrella of that party during the war of liberation.

These elements then never truly transformed into full professional officers or soldiers but remained raw politicians in highly decorated military attire.

When Kasukuwere assumed his present office, he fired all the Generals who had been attached to Zanu-PF as so-called political commissars with no resistance at all. They left in a huff and in a hurry simply murmuring some disapproval to themselves.

A former driver booting away Generals and former top senior commanders of the liberation struggle like thieves caught in the midst of the act confirms their lack of any say nor muscle in Zanu-PF politics.

There are some who then live under the hallucination that they have some say when in actual fact they are totally toothless bulldogs.

Some then are still totally disoriented and therefore disillusioned by their involvement in the protracted war of liberation under the armpit of Zanu-PF, such that 33 years later, indeed, 33 years as senior officers in the security service, they still confuse the dichotomous relationship between serving Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF political work.

But alas, upon retirement, they discover with much disquiet, disgust and amazement that the same Zanu-PF is now repulsive and resistant to their entry into its official positions of power.

They must then let go of the primitive notion and fear that if there is no Zanu-PF, there will be no political role for them in retirement as there are so many other political outfits to join even forming one's own as did Bantubonke Harrington Holomisa with his United Democratic Party in South Africa when he broke up with the ANC, having earlier on left the South Africa Defence Forces.


Q: Is there a role for the security sector to intervene and shape the politics of Zanu-PF, including deciding the succession issue?

A: Those who are quasi-professional claim that they have a role to play, and throughout we have the same clique of officers and men who dabble in politics.

During the armed struggle Zanla fought under the armpit of Zanu, while Zipra (Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army) under Zapu. There are then in life generally some slow learners who then take time to conceptualise their new realities that they are no longer under the tutelage of their former umbrella political parties.

Nonetheless, some known and more professional soldiers are never seen anywhere near a political rally purporting to be "comrades in arms" to the general attendants of the rally.

I do not therefore see their role in deciding the succession issue, otherwise they could have intervened when Mujuru was being ostracised and politically decapitated. They are only tolerated when their actions are against the opposition, but never entertained when they try to "meddle" in the affairs of the party to the discomfort of certain factional and sectional political interests.

Q: Your critics say you were wrong to attack Brigadier General Anselem Sanyatwe for threatening Mujuru because the military have always dabbled in politics, do you still hold your view that he was wrong in his utterances?

A: This person in me does not change like a chameleon; what I said was very factual and nobody has the audacity to raise a hand against it.

Brigadier Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe and like-minded workmates should also by now have realised and learnt a very good lesson and I am sure they will not repeat the same mistakes by their miscalculating callow minds.

Civil servants have no role to play in politics, period. Whether one is a lance-corporal or a 5-star General, that same rule applies. We are not the old Nigeria or Burma. We are a modern civilised society which embraces universal and indeed attitudinal dispositions of political stability and democracy.

Q: Do you see Mujuru breaking her silence and lead an opposition party against Zanu-PF?

A: What silence? Because Mai Mujuru has communicated very clearly her position in newspaper postings and just recently, in a well-articulated manifesto, BUILD.

The doubting Thomases will always think that addressing a rally is the surest public proclamation of one's intentions. No, not at all. Mai Mujuru and her People First have a strategy and a different corporate culture from the orthodox prototype Zanu-PF ways of self-expression.

She is a brand, and indeed, Mother Zimbabwe, quite different from the hallucinating pseudo doctors or UZ PhD holders perambulating the streets of Borrowdale today trying to tell whoever has the patience to listen that they are the future centres of power in Zimbabwe.

The well cultured Mai Mujuru has a way of doing things embedded in the normative cultural values of Zimbabwe. A leader and mukadzi (woman) for that matter haafaniri kuzhangandira; kungomwauka pose pose. (She should not be over talkative). She is composed and well calculative where previous actions and pronouncements neatly fit into future programmes of action.

In fact, Mai Mujuru is not leading an opposition party against Zanu-PF but instead it is now Zanu-PF leading an opposition political crusade of tyranny against the much civilised and civil Mai Mujuru and her People First respectfully. The fewer Zanu-PF then are the opposition.

In good military strategy, you only wait to launch a surprise attack at the appropriate time. People First and Mai Mujuru will wait first until they are exonerated and vindicated through a logical conclusion to the battles of annihilation currently being waged within Zanu-PF, and then launch their party at an appropriate time, most presumably in (early or mid-year)  2016.

Q: What impact will her forming a political party have on her supporters within Zanu-PF since they all embrace the liberation spirit which views opposition politics as an imperialistic agenda aimed at reversing gains of independence ?

A: That is Zanu-PF propaganda which is meant to ensure the longevity of the political incumbency.

So it invented and introduced intimidating terms such as "regime change, puppets, imperialist manoeuvres, colonial agenda" and so on, as propaganda to preserve the hegemony of the leader who should be infallible and therefore die in office.

Mai Mujuru is a liberation icon, quite above the propagandist mantra of mudhara uyu (this old man) who seems now seized with transferring power to his own wife, or simply with the idea of dying in power.

There is no revolutionary empowerment agenda being followed by this old man, it's all about personal aggrandisement and ensuring his longevity at the apex of Zimbabwe's political life. Some of us tried to convince our compatriots a long time ago that this old man apanduka but our voices of reason were submerged by mere party politicking and sloganeering.

People First and all the supporters of Mai Mujuru are then not puppets who are not calculative of the hidden agenda and the self-preservation manoeuvres of the old man, and are therefore simply awaiting in ambush for the formation of their party in order to showcase their true colours and political will to dislodge mudhara uyu (this old man). Moreover, most war veterans, former detainees and war collaborators are now with Mai Mujuru.

All sober minded civil servants and security guys support Mai Mujuru. Only those with dubious lives, promotional histories and hidden agendas are not on her side.

Today, it's extremely difficult to fish out war veterans who do not support Mai Mujuru. People First then embraces the ideals of the revolution more than the opportunist clique of Kasukuwere, Zhuwao, Grace and company.

Q: You worked with Simba Makoni in attempts to defeat Zanu-PF as an opposition in 2008; what chances do political parties have by contesting under a grand coalition?

A: They have the greatest of all chances. After all these problems and the suffering at the hands of Zanu-PF, anyone contesting on a Zanu-PF ticket will be likened to a fool whistling through a graveyard in the middle of the night.

If you aggregate all the current MDC, Zapu, and Biti's PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), and so on, supporters and add them to the three quarters of the pre-congress Zanu-PF membership which represents Mai Mujuru's support base, plus all the discordant silent voices among the more than five million registered Zimbabwean voters, then surely Zanu-PF will certainly get less than 10 percent of the total vote — a fortiori looking at the calibre and credibility of its likely presidential candidates.

Q: In your view, what sort of calibre is needed to lead this grand coalition?

A: You need a revolutionary icon so that there is no question about the person's revolutionary history and ideological protest. Some of the leaders in a spate and wave of previous bouts of heavy political propaganda which many Zimbabweans could unfortunately have been gullible to,  were branded puppets — whatever that meant, making it very difficult today to completely re-brand.

We therefore need somebody who fits the "straight jacket" mantra without being seen as an agent of "imperialism". We probably need a very sincere and a politically motherly character, one who can reduce one's self to the political coal-face of every Zimbabwean.

We need an inspired transformational and ideologically equipped leader but quite uncorrupted by the nationalist demon, zeal and passion to fight anything which is white or western, while on the other surreptitiously calling upon the Chinese to come and plunder our resources in exchange for funding the despots' next political campaign.

We need somebody who is modern, who realises that Zimbabwe is now 20 to 30 years behind, one who can therefore fast track our socio economic programmes to create sustainable socio-economic development and catapult Zimbabwe into an orbit of sustainable development and economic competitiveness.

Q: Who is likely to succeed Mugabe in Zanu-PF and how is that candidate likely to fare against a united opposition in 2018?

A: President Mugabe will not be succeeded by anyone, whether from within or outside Zanu-PF. Just like UNIP in Zambia and the Malawi Congress Party, his Zanu-PF will simply wither away after the 2018 elections.

He will simply be the forgotten political lot with his former inner cabal and this family living in perpetual fear of retribution for the misdeeds and a life of carnage they had perpetrated on the innocent Zimbabweans.

Indeed if President Mugabe contests in 2018, he will surely get less than 10 percent of the total national vote-against the united front of Zimbabwe.