Reports of the Zanu PF politburo meeting last
week shows that some of the docile members have for the first voiced their
displeasure at the way VP Joice Mujuru was been ill-treated. Sadly, it seems it
is all too little too late!
"Gumbo took no prisoners and accused
Mnangagwa of plotting to denigrate Vice President Joice Mujuru. He accused the
Mnangagwa faction of plotting another coup and when an angry Mnangagwa tried to
stand up and defend himself, he was told by Mugabe to sit down," said on
one of the high level sources.
The politburo reportedly rejected Oppah
Muchinguri’s report of Grace Mugabe’s rallies which the latter had used as her
platform to denigrate VP Mujuru. The report was reportedly silent on the
accusations against Mujuru and the demands for her to resign. As a way forward
Mugabe proposed setting up a commission of inquiry to investigate the existence
of the factions within the party.
What some people fail to appreciate here is
that the events of the last two months have forced the Mnangagwa faction, at
least, to come out in the open and declare its intention – to be the dominant
faction and be the one to choice who replaces Mugabe. The gene is out of the
bottle and there is no putting it back now.
The Mnangagwa faction has already had a head
start in campaigning for dominance by doing so under the cover that it was
Grace Mugabe thanking party members for electing her to lead the party’s
women’s league. The Mujuru faction was stopped having its own campaign rallies
or at least replying the scathing attack against its candidate, Mai Mujuru,
because Mugabe had banned all electioneering and speaking to the press.
The second point most people have failed to
appreciate is that factional fighting in Zanu PF are not just about political
power and dominance but even more significantly about economic survival. The
regime has been struggling to pay the bloated civil servant wages let alone
anything else. The need to reduce the size of government right across the board
is clear for all to see and what better way of doing so that dumping members of
the losing faction.
All Zanu PF party members are aware of the
depths of economic despair and misery likes of the late Nathan Shamuyarira had
sunk after he was cast out from the privileged ruling elite circle. They know
that is the fate that awaits most of the members of the losing faction. No
wonder even the most, up to now docile, politburo members like Gumbo were
speaking out in support of their factional leader and “taking no prisoners”.
There is simple too much at stake not to speak – the outcome will decide who
continues to eat well and who starves!
After all the years of saying and doing nothing
about Mugabe’s abuse of power and murderous tyrannical rule it is too late for
anyone to assert themselves now. In this case, it is futile because the damage
against Mai Mujuru has already been done; she is mortally wounded politically
and Mugabe is waiting for the opportune moment, the congress, to deliver the
coup de grace.
Just before the politburo meeting Mugabe
publicly told the party supporters, conveniently bussed in by the Mnangagwa
faction, vote Mai Mujuru out at the up-coming congress.
Establishing a commission of inquiry in the
factionalism in Zanu PF is a meaningless gesture (there are factions whether
they are officially acknowledged is a matter of indifference) designed to
appease (makes Mujuru supporters feel they will have another chance to speak
out, to what end and purposes even they have no idea) and, most important of
all, confuse the Mujuru factions.
She is not going to rally her followers for
fear of being accused of leading a faction. Meanwhile the Mnangagwa faction
will intensify their activities and even infiltrate the Mujuru faction under
the guise of investigating factionalism in preparation for the elective
congress!
18 comments:
@ Tabani Moyo
Mugabe has certainly played one Zanu PF faction another for donkey years and has, surprise, surprise got away with it all these year. I believe he is going to do so again.
"So the long and short of it is that, there are no party elections at congress as the provinces will nominate candidates soon and Mai Mujuru will retain her post and Khaya Moyo," Moyo predict-ed.
I would put my money on Mai Mujuru losing her post at the upcoming congress. There is too much bad blood already generated by Grace’s vicious and unrelenting attack on Mai Mujuru and by publicly calling on the supporters to boot her out at the congress Mugabe showed that there was no going back.
If Grace was to secure the VP post then there can be no doubt that she will be president in all but name. The last two months have shown that she is too much of a loose cannon and, to make matters, her being parachuted from nowhere to chairperson of the women’s league left a bad taste in most people’s mouths but for her to be made VP would cause a stink! Mnangagwa and his co-conspirators will let this pass whilst the Mujuru faction remains a threat but the minute this threat is decisively dealt with the stink will be on the agenda. Mugabe will have no one else to turn to for support then.
If Mugabe has been riding a tiger then he was safe as long as he had two of them in the cage because each was so distrustful of the other to attack him. He has been forced by circumstances to get rid of one and now he is in real danger of being eaten by the remaining tiger.
@ Mister Bako
We are a nation that is easily swayed and will willingly follow any leader elevating them to the status of a God only to be betrayed. We are like the grass that sprout quickly with the first rains but never send out deep roots and thus are left high and dry during the dry period that follow.
A healthy and functioning democracy require an electorate that takes the trouble to understand the key issue and are diligent to follow up. Democracy is about competition and the electorate choosing; what is he point of being given a choice when you have no clue what is before you. Democracy is about holding the elected to account how can the electorate who do not follow up hold anyone to account!
The issues affecting the nation are not rocket science and so the electorate can follow them if they put a bit of effort. Sadly we have a nation that is more responsive to offers of the easy life and detest hard work. Ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden mankind has had to "earn bread from sweat and hard work". Zimbabweans yearn for the easy life of the Garden of Eden and will believe and follow anyone who promised them heaven on earth even if all they have ever got was hell-on-earth!
@ Tawanda Majoni
“Even if it would turn out to be true that Joice is guilty as charged by Grace, who in Zanu-PF is clean? Frankly speaking, if the ruling party were to all of a sudden become sincere about probing corruption, graft, illegality and immorality among its own, it would take half a century working 24 hours a day to complete the task. These ills are so pervasive in Zanu-PF that the party mustn't even dare start the process,” you wrote.
Tawanda if you really believe that no one in Zanu PF is clean of corruption and lawlessness to the point of being guilty of murder and high treason (which I too accept to be true) and if they were to be investigated it “would take half a century working 24 hours a day to complete the task”. Then why do you doubt that Joice Mujuru will too be found guilty of corruption, etc.?
What matters here is not who else is guilty; the individuals accusing her are themselves guilty of the same crimes or worse but that is not relevant because they are not the ones in the dock – she is. All the members of the Zanu PF hyena clan are guilty of all manner of crimes but as long as the clan controls the Police, the Judiciary, etc. tasked to investigate, prosecute, etc. all clan member are above the law. The minute the clan disown you, you are in serious trouble because if the clan can punish an innocent people outside the clan what more a guilt one!
Zanu PF has no intention of investigating any of the hyenas who remain in the clan but only those that break away. Mai Mujuru and her faction are been chased out of the clan because there in no enough food to feed everyone and so she is going to be dumped – this is load shedding Zanu PF style!
Mugabe has managed to keep Zanu PF together because he had the country's wealth and resources to give away. He has nothing left now to keep everyone happy. Indeed the factional war that is going on now is being driven by the economic necessity to reduce the numbers of those at the high table. Anyone force off the high table now now that abject poverty awaits them.
I agree there is no political life for those who break away from Zanu PF but that is because the individuals will find it impossible to criticise Mugabe with any credibility after they have all the years of saying nothing. Edger Tekere would have gone far if he had been clever because people believed him unlike the likes of Simba Makoni, Dumiso Dabengwa, Jonathan Moyo who are clever but are people know are venous snakes.
I would say the Mujuru faction are out but they will not break away because Mugabe will promise them a place at the high table and then squeeze them off one by one.
Denmark believes in free, fair and credible elections are the solid bases for good governance and the Dan-ish people would be up in arms if anyone tried rigging their elections or undermine their democratic insti-tutions and yet they are telling us here that a tyrannical regime is perfectly acceptable for Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe economy is tittering on the edge of complete collapse precisely because the ill effects of bad government. The people of Zimbabwe have suffered a great deal throughout these years but now the nation was on the brink of force this Zanu PF dictatorship to accept real democratic reforms. If the EU really care about the ordinary people of Zimbabwe then they will be helping by applying pressure on the regime to accept reforms, at best. At worse, the EU can stay out of this.
What the EU is doing by re-engaging the regime is turning its own back on calls for free and fair elections regardless of the fact that the regime blatantly rigged last year's election and is now certain to do the same in future. The regime will reward Denmark and the other EU countries by allowing them to join countries like China, Israel and India who have been looting and plundering the nation's resources!
“Gumbo is the Godfather of the Baba Jukwa case. He should be investigated. I am equally sur-prised why he has not been interrogated just as President Mugabe is surprised,” said Matongo-rere.
Zanu-PF national spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo is no longer fit to continue in that capacity after he put out his own statements biased on factional lines last Friday purporting that it was the outcome of a Politburo meeting held the previous day, the Midlands and Matabeleland North provincial co-ordinating committees have resolved.
Of course Mai Mujuru is corrupt but whilst she was considered a member of the hyena clan it did not matter just as many of the clan members are corrupt and worse. The problem arises when a member is thrown out of the clan.
Rugare Gumbo placed the noose round his own neck by denying the obvious - that VP Mujuru is corrupt. All his critics had to do is open the trap door under him. He can survive the drop followed by the sudden stop by stiffen his neck by how long can he hang like that for.
By referring to VP Mujuru as President Gumbo was merely pissing on those who pulled the trap door under him; sure he wanted to remain defiant to the bitter end but his is little comfort, his critics will have the last laugh. The life in abject poverty now awaits you comrade Rugare Gumbo!
Mugabe and the Mnangagwa faction do not play by rules. They are the first to brandish the rule book but that is only because they want to claim the moral high ground. They are known for bombarding their opponents with accusation of breaking this rule, that rule and just to make life even more difficult for their opponents they even come up with new rules which they will religious impose and enforce. In this case they accused Mai Mujuru of being corrupt and thus claiming the moral high ground straight away. There is now this new rule against factionalism which is what the Mujuru faction is now guilty of whatever they do. If the Mnangagwa faction does exactly the same thing it is not even questioned.
Mugabe will be using many other dirty tricks to get what he wants and the whole state machinery will be mobilised, no expense spared, to achieve this goal. The PEC that did not pass the vote of no confidence or whatever to suit Mugabe will hurried, harassed, bullied, threatened, etc. until they do.
People like Mai Mujuru have seen this happen again and again to Zanu PF opponents and they turned a blind eye because they benefited from the lawlessness and vote rigging. Now they are the victims of the dirty tricks and no doubt they will cry foul but no one will pay heed.
Why sack her when he knows she will lose the elections come the congress in four weeks time! Mugabe is already fixing the electoral process to ensure that she lose.
Tsvangirai had the majority of the voters behind him in 2008 and 2013 and yet he lost each time. You will see the same happen - indeed it is already happening if open your eyes!
Are you saying free, fair and credible elections is not the basis of good government ? What has sanctions to do with free and fair elections? Now that the EU has lifted all the sanctions are we going to have free and fair elections?
If I am hiding in the diaspora then I should not care about the hardship you on the ground are facing. I have nothing to do with their being imposed or being lifted so why are you dragging me into this?
The trouble with simple minded people like you is that you believe all the nonsense Mugabe tells you with ever stopping to think for yourself. Zimbabwe's economic problems are a result of years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. You can see this for yourself if you opened your eyes.
Mugabe tells you some stupid story of sanctions being the cause of the economic meltdown and you believe him. He is the one on the sanctions list and yet he has grown wealthier over the years not poorer. Why is it that those on the sanctions list are growing richer and those not on the list are living in abject poverty? THINK!
Well that is what people like Mai Mujuru, Rugare Gumbo, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, Simba Makoni have all done in their time. Mugabe has thanked the others is his own unique way - kicked them all in the teeth.
Now the tyrant is priming Mai Mujuru, Rugare Gumbo, Jabulani Sibanda, Dzikamai Mavhaire, etc for their golden handshake. There is going to be some serious a***** kicking to help these idiots on their way to life in S****t Alley where us the poor live!
@ whichfool
If Zanu PF believe in free and fair elections then why are they also supporting this no regime change mantra the two are mutual exclusive you cannot have the freedom to elect whoever you please but be told only if candidate A is going to win.
Yes Zanu PF fought in the war of independence to end white oppression but only to replace it with the Zanu PF oppression and corruption. For 34 years now Mugabe has wanted to tell half the story - ending white oppression - but avoid saying that he replaced it with this tyrannical re-gime.
Whichfool, you are from the Mujuru factions; your handlers are having their backsides kicked right now. Like you, they have refused to accept that the regime was corrupt and oppressive but now they are the victims they will sing a different tune!
When these thugs are finished with Mujuru, Gumbo, Mavhaire, etc. the big chefs they will come after you in the mop up operation; you will not be saying all this nonsense you have been saying all these years!
“Time has come to redirect to our main purpose and ensure that we chart the best eco-nomic way forward for the Zimbabwean people in line with our election pledges and con-sistent with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset),” Regare Gumbo said.
Dream on, mister dream on! The distraction of the nation’s economy has been going on these last 34 years and you think you can have it all stopped and put right in a few weeks before the congress when you are certain to be dumped! No chance! You and many of your friends in the Mujuru factions are going to be dumped.
“The ugly truth is that many of our people are struggling to make ends meet in the cur-rent economic climate. A sizeable number of our young people are unemployed and many families are desperately concerned about their general welfare,” said the Zanu PF information chief
Now you are talking but wait until you join us in S***t Alley; you will know what being poor and destitute real mean.
Mugabe and the Mnangagwa faction people should not sit back and think they are safe to continue the life of leisure and looting, they are not. The economic meltdown will dump them in time for there is going to be any meaningful recovery until this tyrannical regime and all it stands for are crashed into the dust.
@ Joseph Hwande
MDC leaders poisoned their own political careers by failing to implement the reform and Mugabe deliv-ered the coup de grace by blatantly rigging the elections. MDC leaders are politically dead and buried and it is fitting that Tendai Biti is the "graveyard security guard"! He is making sure none of these MDC goons ever come back not even if there was ever a remake of Thriller!
Zanu PF is undergoing a chaotic and violent end but that it a fitting end for a party that has had a chaotic and violent existence; every chaotic and very violent existence! The Mnangagwa faction has the up hand over the Mujuru faction and the party's ruthlessness has kicked in big time. Instead of just the usual war vets and green-bombers stirring up the chaos this time there have Grace to help along.
The Mnangagwa faction members are set to meet their Waterloo when they have to face the economic meltdown. After the blood fight they would be keen for things to go back to the old days when they had all the cream of the nation's wealth and riches for themselves. They will be shocked to learn there is no cream left and that as long as they remain in power there will be none! The economic chaos and hardships will force them out of power.
The "future is exciting" Chimisa says; well the past has been pathetic, to say the least. 15 years of following blindly some one like Tsvangirai is torture but it is interesting what some people will do for a seat on the gravy train!
@ Sound of blackness
Judging by their past performance both Zanu PF and MDC leaders are in politics to be on the gravy train. Until we can hold our leaders to account which means two things:
1) ensure elections are free, fair and credible then whichever political party control the system will always be able to do as they please. The opposition for they part will settle for the crumbs the ruling party give them and thus the present system will become the norm. It is in the public's interest to ensure all the democratic reforms are implemented and future elections are free, fair and credible.
This is no small task since the people themselves have yet to understand the critical importance of the reforms. Accomplish that task and they will push to get them implemented.
2) Ensure the electorate understand the key issues affecting the nation. Democracy is about choosing one out of two or more alternative and it is assumed the vote appreciate the difference presented before them. We are in this hell-hole because the Zimbabwe electorate have never understood the issues the nation faced.
It should be noted that Zimbabwe's autocratic political system thrived in keeping the electorate ignorant and thus accomplishing the first task above will have an immediate positive effect on the second task.
The nation has been conditioned into believing that the people will never accomplish anything unless they are tallying behind a political party and a political leader. Of course this is nonsense, look at the Arab spring the people accomplished more, in some cases, until political parties start-ed to emerge. Political parties can emerge after the people themselves have understood what the reforms are about because the electorate are certain to elect leaders who understand the reforms too!
Nothing, absolutely nothing of any substance can ever be achieved until the democratic reforms are implemented! Forget everything else this is the big issue and the nation must keep its eyes on this ball!
The Zanu PF factions are like hyenas fighting over the bare bones of carcass, when the fighting is done they will still have to face the reality of starvation in the desolate land without a single blade of grass and therefore no game. In this case it was Zanu PF's own doing that the national economy is in total meltdown after 34 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption.
Mugabe was able to bribe and bamboozle Tsvangirai and MDC into doing nothing about the democratic reform but will find that the economic meltdown is not so easily bribed or bamboozled. The Zimbabwe economy will not recovery until the reforms are implemented and good governance restored!
@ Rafique702
When you look at how even Zanu PF party grandees like Enos Nkala and Nathan Shamuyarira had not been spared of the ravishing abject poverty that is when you realise that the rich Zanu PF ruling elite is but a myth. Poverty has reached the inner core of the ruling elite.
Mujuru and her supporters are fighting for dear life because they know being dumped means being send out of Easy Street with nothing more than the shirt they are wearing - a fate they had condemned the white farms to - to S***t Alley were us the poor povo live.
Rugare Gumbo, the man who cheered and applauded last year's rigged elections with the usual Zanu PF patronizing pomposity, was taking of the need for Zanu PF to address the economic problems. He is a Mujuru supporter and he is certain to be dumped - load shedding, Mugabe style - in the coming congress.
He was a political "Satanist" until now but not anymore, Rugare Gumbo is now a democrat! Unfortunately it is too late for him to do anything to stop the devilish tricks his former Zanu PF thugs have lined up for him and the rest of the Mujuru faction members!
Give Comrade chef Rugare Gumbo and his Mujuru faction friends a few months in S***t Alley and they will tell the nation the truth about last year's rigged elections! There is nothing like a few nights on an empty stomach to clear the fog that had turn wrong into right and to loosen the tongue.
@ Maita
When you have a get out of jail card, use it. The GNU offer the nation the get out of jail card and all MDC had to do is implement the reforms. Who cares about the jail's thick walls, the razor fence, etc. when you can walkout through the gate!
You problem is that you cannot focus on what is important and relevant and thus are wondering around in your fog of confusion!
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