By Blessing Vava
The leaked audio featuring a conversation
between Mnangagwa’s wife Auxillia and an army commander named as one Murombo has
exposed the power struggles in the “New Dispensation” administration. In the
audio, Auxillia Mnangagwa claims that the army is trying to 'get Mnangagwa '
through’ her, clearly asserting that all is not well in the cockpit and that
the army is out to remove Mnangagwa. These revelations thus vindicate my
postulations in my previous blog article, where I warned that Zimbabwe was on
the brink of another military takeover based on Mnangagwa’s dismal failure to
handle and manage the transition, and failing to cure the coup. I posited that
the ghost of November 2017 continues to hunt us, and this is a call to the
progressive forces to layout and undertake a political programme of action to
remove ZANU PF from power.
It is now crystal clear that the system that
replaced Mugabe is not new at all, despite trying to decorate it with funky
terms like the “2nd Republic, New Dispensation etc.” It is as old as it was
during Mugabe, with the only new thing being the voodoo scarf which he awfully dons even in the hot Savanna temperatures and has also become
Mnangagwa’s symbol of failure. As a leader who took over from Mugabe, Mnangagwa
has so far done badly, because after securing political power, he failed to
utilize it to transform society, and most importantly the economy. To think
that this is a man who for decades wanted to be president is utterly shocking
as it has emerged that he only wanted to wear a scarf, have those endless
foreign trips and debauchery. The Mnangagwa administration sold a dummy to the
people of Zimbabwe, it failed on its promises to transform and reform the
systems of governance, improve the economy for the upliftment of the
livelihoods of Zimbabweans. To his credit, what Mnangagwa only did was to
remove an unpopular, hated and feared dictator and that change of power were
greeted with much hope and satisfaction. However, let me hasten to say
that the coup was not in any way revolutionary in character and form, though
the masses supported it, the revolutionary element was probably only limited to
the rhetoric of the military conspirators, that it was indeed a ‘’peoples revolution.’’
Consequently, it is correct to argue that the coup
was undue influence in the politics of Zimbabwe, in that it abrogated the
country’s supreme law, the constitution and thus compromised the spirit of
constitutionalism in Zimbabwe. It was an illegal act that should have never
happened and set a wrong precedent for our country. Dumisani Muleya, in
his article, Coup: Of usurpers and judges in the Zimbabwe Independent
of the 20th of July 2018 posited that whenever there is a military coup
anywhere in the world, the executive, legislature and judiciary — are usually
shaken to their foundations or collapse. This is largely true, particularly
when we take a closer look at the judiciary. On top of it all, since assuming
power, the actions of the coup government have equally shown a complete
disregard of the constitution based on the many illegalities that we can count
since the time of them assuming power. On the judiciary, a case in point
being the shocking High court ruling of 24 November 2017 which ruled that the
military takeover leading to ex-President Robert Mugabe's resignation was
legal, and therefore not a coup d’état. At the same time, another court ruled
that Mugabe's sacking of his former deputy, current President Emmerson
Mnangagwa was illegal and this points to fears over judicial independence.
Above all, Zimbabwe is now being governed by decrees, with the amending of some
principal legislation being done by Ministers thereby usurping the role of
parliament as what happened on S1 142 of 2019 a clear violation of the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe Act.
However, it can also be argued that the coup was
necessary for exposing where the real power lies. Zimbabweans are now dealing
with the real power behind Mugabe’s façade, the real enemy and elephant in the
room (the military) is now right before us in full glare. There is no longer
hiding, Mugabe was just its figurehead. This then calls for revised strategies
especially for the progressive social and political forces on how to confront
this beast which is now in full glare. The regime’s propensity for the use of
force in response to peaceful protests shows that they are in panic So, their only option is fear and violence. However, they have now been exposed that in the long run if they are continually exposed the resort to brute force will expire. To date, the coup regime has surpassed Mugabe in his 37 years in power with a high number of activists being charged with treason. The threats on the deployment of the military to quell civil unrest by the minister of defence Oppah Muchinguri shows that brute force is the only language they understand. It is in this light that I argue that brutal power will have to be brought to the table of reform, force is overwhelming but it eventually wields to the people.
In light of the prevailing situation, Zimbabwe's
progressive social and political forces need to quickly re-engage, re-mobilise,
re-organise and re-group to build an alternative country through sustained
political action. Relying on the crippling economy or some Sarajevo moment will
simply not work. The citizens require decisive leadership, there is no Sarajevo
moment waiting to happen unless there is sustained radical political action on the
ground. ZANU PF will not budge unless pressure has been mounted, otherwise, a
rush into another GNU will only be suicidal and will mark the end of opposition
politics in Zimbabwe.
Subsequently, the progressive forces must work on a
massive mobilisation programme of action, that will result in the seizure of
political power from ZANU PF. Capturing the state is as it were the premise
upon which Zimbabwe can be protected from corruption, covetousness, mediocrity,
directionless and add up to disregard of the economic interests of the people
by the current government. Anybody who accepts and considers that ZANU PF will
lead society into economic emancipation is living in Cloud cuckoo land.
Blessing Vuvuzela Vava is a blogger who is based in Chipinge. He can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com
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