President Robert hanging on at 88: An insult to ZANU PF – Rashweat Mukundu

President Robert Mugabe clocked 88 years this week, a major personal achievement only if it were not tied to the fate of this country. As is common, ZANU PF leaders, state owned corporations and Ministries fell over each other in congratulating President Mugabe, wishing him many more and others bending back forwards to be seen as the leading cheerleader. Some say he is the son of god, others say he is cremora, others say he our Moses leading us out of Egypt, others say he has instead taken us deep into Egypt and the expletives are unending. If you believe the ZBC, Herald and The Sunday Mail, President Mugabe now occupies a pedestal in the history of this country far higher than Joshua Nkomo, Herbert Chitepo, Mbuya Nehanda or Sekuru Kaguvi, he is the all in all our of past, present and future and without him Zimbabwe will simply  vanish into nothingness.

However deep inside all these forlorn praise singing is a sad reality, the failure by ZANU PF leaders to see or accept how President Mugabe has persistently insulted the persons of his lieutenants more so the creed of democratic practice upon which ZANU PF is supposedly founded and run. Here is an 88 year old man, who has been in power for 30 years. And who in his later political life has completely failed his people and his party, bringing suffering, causing nearly a quarter of the population to flee, reducing life mortality and rendering a once prosperous nation, a basket case. While it is the general political culture in Zimbabwe for politicians to sing praise for one of their own, we have seen that with MDC-T supporters, the difference with ZANU PF is that President Mugabe has for a number of years stated in public his lack of respect nor regard for his juniors in the party. On many occasions President Mugabe has been asked about his retirement plans, and almost all the time he has stuck to his script, that there are no good enough leaders in his party and that ZANU PF will collapse if he departs the political scene. The argument has gotten bizarre as the years went by. In recent interviews with the state media, Mugabe now says he could not groom a successor because that could have torn the party asunder and hence his decision to hang on. We all thought ZANU PF has a constitution that allows and clearly states how leaders are elected into office and there is no clause as far as i can remember that allows Mugabe to groom and install a successor.  

Any sensible person would ask till when, more so for an 88 year old man whom his government colleagues say struggles to stay awake in key government meetings. Is it not an insult to the top leadership of ZANU PF that one of their own think they are not  leadership material, that they have no capacity to lead the party and the country, that they are essentially sub-species to the President. What does this thinking by the President say about the future of ZANU PF, that it will be buried with the President?.  What does this say about the leadership qualities and courage that many in the top leadership of ZANU PF displayed at the war front, when Mugabe was holed up in Maputo during the liberation struggle? Here is a man who is so out of touch with political reality that he thinks that his opponents are afraid of him. He has already forgotten that he lost the March 2008 Presidential vote and had to bludgeon hapless citizens into submission. Here is a man who is not concerned about the future, because he is 88, that he threatens  not to cooperate with the South African head of state  mandated to find a solution to the man made crisis in Zimbabwe all because he wants to remain in power till his end. How far can ZANU PF allow this kind of insults? Instead on celebrating and publishing meaningless messages about the visionary leadership of President Mugabe, ZANU PF top brass must spend time reflecting about their political careers and future. They need to ask themselves how they have managed their personal and professional lives to be so beholden to one individual. Maybe President Mugabe knows something that we dont, that indeed his juniors are a useless bunch, who cannot be trusted. He obviously knows all the skeletons in their cardboards, how they acquired their wealth, how they are holding to more than one farm each, how they cannot survive a day longer without his patronage, how many of them cannot run a tuck-shop and depend on corruption for survival. It might as well be true that President Mugabe sees no future for ZANU PF after his departure and what a sorry indictment and judgment on the leadership of ZANU PF by one of their own and not us.  Zimbabwe is desperate for leadership and the people of Zimbabwe will judge harshly ZANU PF for its inept approach to national issues as long as their pockets are lined. President Mugabe is 88 and congratulations to him for attaining this long life. However he is not the man to be making decisions about the affairs of this country. He belongs to his private home and his family. As for his juniors, shame on you, dare we repeat Margaret Dongo’s description of you?  

The President’s birthday and the fate of a people- Rashweat Mukundu

21 February is a significant day in Zimbabwe’s calendar whether one likes it or not. For those in ZANU PF and President Robert Mugabe’s family it’s a day of celebrating what has become one of the world’s long standing Presidency and political leadership. For others it’s a day of sulking and reminiscing over the 30 year old rule of President Mugabe and scratching of heads on why he has stayed this long, politically. President Mugabe’s birthday is a reminder of how far things have remained the same and still how far they have changed. He remains rooted where he is, yet Zimbabwe is certainly no longer the same in many fronts. We are a battered people, who have no currency of their own, who sell anything and everything in the streets, who flood neighbouring countries in our millions. Our confidence and gusto is gone, we live by the day and hope for a better future that seems a far distance away. Our wealth is tucked away in trucks under our nose, our brothers with guns and power are happy to receive trinkets as they sell the family silver for a Range Rover and a Compressor, driven in potholed streets littered with filth, raw sewage, beggars, pick pockets and prostitutes.

Yet one thing is for sure, 21 February will come and there will be an interview with the President and we will sit down and listen and many more stories and analysis of his interview will be done and life goes on. It was therefore not different this week as we awaited the President’s interview with the ZBC, elaborately choreographed to detail by the Ministry of Information and Publicity, meaning Mr George Charamba.  I am sure the questions are checked and rechecked and the interviewer possibly sat down his wife at home for one rehearsal after another, including the expected nodding and smiling and of course the day comes with a new suit, tie and shoes. It must surely be one hell of a job to interview the President, not because the journalist savour the moment to ask tough or meaningful questions, but the fear of being accused of having messed up or at the spur of a moment asked something outside the script, a genuine question. The script does not change much, the same questions about the President’s views on politics, the economy, indigenisation, his family especially Amai Mugabe and the kids, his health and advice to the youth. The President is not pressured but given a wide berth to rumble ad nauseas.   It so happened that like many millions Zimbabweans i stayed up to watch the interview. One confusing thing about the President is that he is certainly no monster in his appearance. He is not Idi Amin nor does he look threatening like Jonas Savimbi, he is, for lack of a better, word a polished Englishman demonstrated by his mannerisms and how he picks his words carefully.   There is however something melancholic and sad about the man, you don’t get angry with him, you ask why?. Why has such as intelligent man decided to end his political life under such confused circumstances, loathed by many. And yes loathed because we heard it from ZANU PF leaders themselves in their moments of frankness as exposed by wiki leaks. Behind all the facade of praise singing, ZANU PF leaders don’t necessarily like the President and he said it himself in an interview with The Sunday Mail. The President is an old man, and as he answers questions, one can see his mind drifting to some distant place, he stammers and comes back to life. The President is at his best when talking about fighting imperialists, he actually shifts and sits straight. My wife asked the next morning, is all that the President said about other African leaders true?.     I posed for a moment and said yes, explaining that the President unfortunately does not do as he says. President Mugabe talk of fighting imperialism is devoid of substance as he daily weakens the capacity of his people to stand on their own.  The farms have remained in the hands of a few, the indigenisation is all confused and benefitting a few, the diamonds monies are going into the hands of a few. In the end the ordinary Zimbabwean survives on donations from the USA and EU.   The President continues to be selfish, insisting on elections that are likely to be disputed. While he talks of his love for the people, he only loves himself. As we prepare for another season of being beaten up, asked to chant slogans, others disappearing and never to be seen and another GNU, we also look forward to 21 February 2013. The President remains in his place, his people wander like orphans in the streets and in the world. He will still say, my people they love me and I love them.

Rashweat Mukundu is a Zimbabwean journalist.