Grace Mugabe evokes King David story in Zanu PF succession war - meant Belshazzar. N Garikai

Zanu PF’s succession war is heating up; Grace Mugabe is reaching for the Bible in a desperate bid to present herself as the one who should succeed her husband. Sadly, for Grace she meant to portray herself as King David’s son the Solomon in the succession race with Adonija only to end up sounding more like she was the latter.

“Using the biblical story of Adonija who organised a feast to crown himself because his father the king was sick, Amai Mugabe said the President has the right to be involved in naming his successor, saying the President’s word is final,” ZBC statement said.

Madam, if you are going to quote the Bible then you should quote the Chapter and verse that is more relevant to your circumstance and never to be blasphemy. No word spoken by a mere mortal ‘is final’ anything; no matter what earthy powers and airs the individual has usurped he/she must never be so arrogant as to think them can ever abrogate unto themselves the divine powers too.

President Mugabe has taken away the ordinary people’s freedoms and human rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life. In his 37 years in power the tyrant has murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans to establish and retain the de facto one-party dictatorship we have lived under all these years.

Just because President Mugabe has usurped the people’s power to hold him to account does not mean he now has any divine powers. The final word is everything is the prerogative of the Almighty God, Him and Him alone.  

“First Lady Grace Mugabe has broken history this morning by publicly “ordering” her husband to name his successor. This is the first-time Mugabe has been publicly told by his wife to pass the baton. Mugabe is now expected to obey his wife having before revealed that he has to listen to her, “ndozvandinongoitwawo kumba imiwo imi saka ndinongoteerera,” he once admitted,” commented Zimeye.

That sounds more like what the modern day Adonija would do. King David ordered Solomon to ride a donkey, as a sign of humility, to the site where he was to be anointed King of Israel. President Mugabe would not dare order Grace to wear “mariposa”, as a sign of her humility. She “only wears Gucci designer shoes”, she said; as if she has never ever worn Bata shoes much less walked bear-foot!

For the last 37 years, President Mugabe has stubbornly refused to name a successor for fear he would then have to give up power. He certainly wanted to die on the throne. Giving up power must be the hardest thing he has ever done but when he cannot walk, stay awake for more than a few minutes, have the shakes, etc. even the seasoned megalomania has to give up the throne.

When you see a fig-tree shedding its leaves, you can be sure the rainy season is not far! Regime change, denied us all these decades, is now finally upon us. After 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule, it is sweeter than the promised by stolen 1980 independence.

This time, regime change should not the shuffle of cards, departure of one Zanu PF dictator but only to replace him with another. As much as Grace Mugabe, Emmerson Mnangagwa or any of the other Zanu PF thugs would wish to be Mugabe’s successor they must know that is the last thing the people of Zimbabwe would wish or vote for in a free, fair and credible election. The nation has yearned for free and fair elections and will not be denied.

Grace Mugabe should not be reading from the Book of Samuel but from the Book of Daniel. She will find her husband and King Belshazzar of Babylon have a lot in common; both have been measured and found wanting. The writing is on the wall for President Mugabe and all his would be Zanu PF successors!

The people of Zimbabwe want all the democratic reforms implemented so from henceforth the country has free, fair and credible elections. When it comes to who should rule Zimbabwe it should be the people and not some corrupt and murderous tyrant who, with God’s guidance, should have the final say!  

"I will choose all senatorial candidates," decrees Tsvangirai - lost all democratic vestiges. N Garikai

Babies are so flexible they can have their foot in their mouth. It is disconcerting when an adult makes a habit of having their foot in the mouth. Tsvangirai has the intellectual habit of putting both his feet in his mouth; because that is one concise way one can surmise his latest suggestion.

MDC-T is not going to have the traditional primary election to help decide who will represent the party in the coming elections. This is being abolished because it is “divisive”, according to Tsvangirai; candidates are to be selected by consensus instead and here is how that works.

“We will select our candidates through consensus,” he explained. “Those who want to contest in a particular constituency must discuss among themselves and come to a consensus.

“I am waiting to hear the names of the odd ones, who will say they cannot find common ground [and] I will ask them if they are MDC or Zanu PF.”

Well that is as clear as mud!

The opposition parties have been talking about coming together to form a grand coalition for donkey years and they have made zero progress because they could not agree on who was to lead. Leaders were going to be selected by consensus or could it be that Tsvangirai forgot to use the enchanted words, “Are you opposition or are you Zanu PF!”

For the odd reader who does not know Morgan Tsvangirai, he is the man who suggest anyone aspiring to be president of Zimbabwe should be asked if he/she knew where “Mbire or Tafara is”. He just happened to know where Mbire is but will, not doubt, not know every anthill and stream in Zimbabwe. Why knowing where Mbire is has become so important is itself a measure of the man. Shallow-minded people have a knack for making mountains out of mole-hills, talk of anything of substance and they are lost “muchakasara” (helplessly lost, with no sense of direction).

   

“As regards, the Senate, this time, I will choose representatives on my own. I will personally vet those whose names will be put forward because I know every MDC cadre and their contribution to the party from the formation of the party.”

Tsvangirai have changed the party’s constitution to extend his stay in power beyond the two five-year term maximum limit and now he is the only one to select all the senatorial candidates. From now on, every MDC cadre will be beholden to Tsvangirai and all meaningful debate much less democratic competition has been stifled. All will be competing to catch Tsvangirai’s attention by agreeing and/or praising him; all those who dare criticize will be throw with the Sodomites!

Why not just rename the party the Movement for Tsvangirai Change or something! The party has lost all the few democratic vestiges it had so why bother calling itself a democratic party.

Now it is easy to see why MDC leaders failed to get even one democratic reform implemented in five years of the GNU, they did not have a clue what democracy is and the likes of Tsvangirai, still has no clue even today.

We need to implement the democratic reforms to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship, there is no question about that one. What is also clear is the body, call it the National Transition Authority, to be tasked to implement the reforms must not include any of the politicians from MDC or Zanu PF who played a role in the GNU, we do not want to waste time and resourcing filling old bottles with new wine!

SADC ruled 2008 election "free and fair", says Sikhumbuzo Moyo - that is a lie.

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, I too applaud Dr Dabengwa for calling for next year’s elections to be postponed but, alike you, I do not have my head buried in the sand.

“In his article published on the 21st of July 2017, the honourable President of ZAPU his Excellency Dr Dumiso Dabengwa suggested that 2018 elections needs to be postponed because ZEC is using 2013 system and it is always in favour of Zanu. "This is true, for example the recent Chiwundura by election was not free and fair because it was in favour of ZANU”, you write.

“As a ZAPU cadre I would like to applaud Dabengwa for telling the truth as it is.”

True but has it really taken Dr Dabengwa all these years to realise that Zanu PF has been rigging elections. Least you forget, he was Minister of Home Affairs for a number of years and the Police under him continued to turn a blind eye to Zanu PF inspired political violence. He never said a word none lift a finger!

“SADC also plays a pivotal role by not coming clear when it comes to Zimbabwe's elections. The SADC elections observers always report untrue stories that " Elections are free and fair whilst people are being killed and intimidated during elections period," you continued.

“2008 and 2013 elections were Nikuved SADC did not help. There is no doubt when we say "SADC is similar to a toothless dog which just barks and never bites".

SADC did NOT say the 2008 elections were free and fair. Indeed, SADC would not recognise Mugabe as the legitimately elected leader forcing the tyrant to sign the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in which he was to share power with MDC, accept the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms to ensure future elections were free and fair and accept SADC supervision.

There is no doubt that the GPA was engineered to give Mugabe a soft landing and individuals like former SA President Thabo Mbeki has taken a lot fleck for that. Rightly so too. Still it is an irrefutable fact that Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC could and should have refused to sign on to the GPA. Why did they?

But most significant of all, the GPA would have delivered free, fair and credible elections in July 2013 if MDC leaders had implemented the reforms. After five years in the GNU, they failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!

SADC leaders did their best to remind Tsvangirai & co. to implement the reforms but they were ignored. The regional leaders, literally, begged MDC leaders not to contest the July 2013 elections with no reforms in place, which would have saved the day by forcing the implementation of the reforms, but again MDC leaders ignored the warning.

Dr Dabengwa is calling for the postponement of the 2018 elections because Zanu PF will rig the vote, great. But did he not know that Zanu PF would rig the July 2013 elections, why did he and Zapu contest these elections against the advice of SADC?

It was us, Zimbabweans and not SADC, who gave the 2013 flawed elections the stamp of approval by participating in the elections. We knew the elections would be rigged, we were warned they will be rigged and we still proceeded because “no Zanu PF vote rigging shenanigans would overwhelm MDC’s mass support”, as Tsvangirai later admitted. Of course, that was a very foolish thing to do and we have paid dearly for it.

Tsvangirai, Biti, Ncube and the rest of the opposition entourage being the fools they are, are tripping over each other to contest in next year’s elections even though we have not implemented even one reform. Of course, Zanu PF will rig the elections; it is doing so already.

Zimbabwe is going to have a new Biometric Voter Registration system, the regime has dragged it feet getting the system operational, for example. It has taken four years to decide from whom the kits would be bought. It is now less than a year to the voting day and still voter registration has not even begun. This is all for a reason; everything will be a mad rush. The regime does not want people to see what it is doing and one way of doing this is to waste time and then overwhelm them with so much information they will hardly have time to sign much less read anything!

Left to our own devices, there is no doubt that there will be enough opposition politicians and supporters who will participate in next year’s elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process became. Mugabe knows that as long as there is a chance of winning any gravy train seats he will never have to worry about the opposition boycotting the elections. His real big worry now is that SADC are sick and tired of his tomfoolery.

I believe SADC leaders accepted the 2013 rigged elections to punish MDC leaders for ignoring their warning. I believe SADC leaders are NOT going to accept next year’s rigged elections because they know that would be cutting one’s nose to spite one’s face. Zimbabwe’s ongoing economic and political crisis is now a serious threat to not just Zimbabwe economic development and stability but that of the whole region. SADC leaders are not going to let Mugabe get away with blatantly rigging another election and throw the whole region into chaos!

So, for your own information Sikhumbuzo Moyo, it is SDAC, “the toothless dog which just barks and never bites”, who are going to save Zimbabwe from own home-grown stupidity and greed. We will finally enjoy the democratic freedoms and human rights Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs (Dr Dabengwa played his assigned role and took his share of the spoils) denied us for 37 years. We will finally have the democratic changes Tsvangirai & co. promised but have failed to bring about not even one change after 17 years.

Zimbabwe is in this hell-hole because our political leaders, on both sides of the divide, are corrupt, incompetent and greed. We need SADC to save us from our own leaders and our own foolishness; we must therefore be a bit more respectful of SADC. “Usa chenjedza vanyamukuta kuzvara uchada!” (It is unwise to insult the midwife when you have a pregnant wife!) As the Shona elders would say.