Order can never emanate from explosions. Not much in the form of order can result from chaos as Robert Mugabe has shown through his ignorant and ill-advised decisions concerning his ZANU-PF party. The so-called Congress was taken out of the hands of the party followers and every little decision dumped into the hands of the aging leader who now admits to having his wife making decisions about important issues. The admission came after Mugabe’s wife Grace sent a hand-written note to the podium where Mugabe was giving a long, rumbling speech in which he was incoherent and repeating himself. She told him to stop talking. He then told the audience that his wife had ordered him to stop the speech. “My wife has written a note; she says I’m talking too much.
That’s how I am treated even at home, so I must listen.” As the audience laughed, he appeared somewhat confused and shouted: “Pasi ne ZANU-PF!” (Down with ZANU-PF!”) and some party adherents wailed in discomfort. This was only one of several instances during the congress in which Mugabe got confused and said something he would otherwise not have said. Earlier during the congress, Mugabe had unwittingly stated that his political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, had won 73 percent of the vote in the 2008 elections and his audience had quickly intervened to correct him. “When we failed to, when Tsvangirai got 73 percent of the votes …,” Mugabe said before being corrected. “Oh, he got 47 percent of the votes and I got 43 percent.”
The aftermath of that congress, just as the months and weeks preceding it, has been nothing but chaotic and there is no sign things within ZANU-PF will get better soon. There were two camps within the party and the two leaders of those camps were both vying to succeed Mugabe. One was Emerson Mnangagwa, who has just been sworn in as Vice President, and the other was the now former Vice President Joyce Mujuru. Recognising the fear that Grace Mugabe has over the safety of her family assets, monies and investments, the Mnangagwa camp fuelled speculation that Joyce Mujuru would forcibly take back all the assets from the Mugabe family.
It was a well-executed propaganda blitz, spearheaded by none other than the infamous Jonathan Moyo, who, along with Patrick Zhuwao (Mugabe’s nephew), Oppah Muchinguri (now Minister of Higher Education) and Savior Kasukuwere (Minister of Environment), were dubbed “The Gang of Four”. Fronting the four was, of course, Grace Mugabe. So the purging of those loyal to Mrs. Mujuru started and, in the end, Grace prevailed over her husband. The result was a loss of more than half of the cabinet, MPs and provincial party chairmen and civil servants. Mugabe hand-picked Mnangagwa as Vice President with the other VP being Phelekezela Mphoko, a controversial one time Zimbabwe Ambassador to Botswana who shall always be remembered in Gaborone for roughing up a journalist.
It was not an elective congress because just days before the congress, Mugabe demanded and was given the powers to appoint people rather than have them voted for by the party followers. So now, the putsch is over and Mrs. Mujuru has been fired from cabinet and parliament. There is talk about going after her assets and even prosecuting her. Her allies have also been sent scattering into the political wilderness and, as a possible foretaste of things to come, just last weekend, Mnangagwa chased away Mrs. Mujuru loyalists who had converged on Mnangagwa’s rural home to celebrate Mnangagwa’s ascendancy to the Vice Presidency.
Unfortunately, though, this was not the end but the beginning of something much more serious within ZANU-PF. The Gang of Four has, once again, taken center-stage as they complain that they are not happy with the rewards they received in both the party and in government. They are now saying Mnangagwa was rewarded with a top post yet he did very little to get rid of Mrs. Mujuru. Those in Mnangagwa’s camp are now turning against each other and the issue of tribalism has suddenly emerged publicly within the faction, party and even government. Not that it wasn’t there before; it’s coming out openly because people are angry, especially the Zezuru and the Manyika who feel they are not represented enough in both the party and the government. Lines of differences are being drawn among those in Mnangagwa’s camp.
They fought for a common purpose: to humiliate and remove Mrs. Mujuru, whose camp was winning most electoral party positions against the Mnangagwa group. Now that the hunt is over and the beast lies before them, it is time to share the spoils and everyone in the camp, except Mnangagwa, is already complaining. Members of the Gang of Four certainly want more power within the party. They expected that one of two women in their group would be made Vice president, not Mnangagwa. “It is further alleged that this group has worked very hard to try and get Senate President Edna Madzongwe, or even Grace herself, to become vice president, and not Mnangagwa ÔÇö whom they allegedly believed had not done enough in the lead-up to Zanu PF’s damp squib “elective” congress earlier this month to deserve the post,” said Zimbabwe’s Daily News.
The Gang of Four is working closely with Grace Mugabe who is as ambitious as they come. She is expected to be named to Cabinet when Mugabe reshuffles his ministers after his return from vacation next month. The fight for political power and influence is far from over and there are going to be more and more casualties in both the party and government because The Gang Of four knows that they have to make their move now since Mnangagwa is already moving with speed to consolidate his power base.
They are aware that Mugabe’s month long absence has left Mnangagwa not only as Acting President but simultaneously running “four other ministries of Vice-President, Justice Minister, Intelligence chief at ministerial level, Leader of Government Business in Parliament and rotating Zanu-PF chairperson – which make his a de facto premier”. But then, he needs to be careful because “they” will not allow him to be President. That is for sure. Besides, Grace Mugabe also wants what Mnangagwa wants and the boxers, who once fought from the same corner, have only just entered the ring.
Not only that, it cannot be denied that Mnangagwa owes his current elevation to both the Gang of Four and to Grace Mugabe. This is what is disheartening about appointing Vice Presidents and hopefully Botswana can learn from this chaos to ensure all leaders are voted for not handpicked. It is tragic and it is the country that suffers.
