Mnangagwa and Mujuru two sides of the same coin: Both extremely flawed
By William Muchayi
The hysteria and noise surrounding Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa and his alleged nemesis Joyce Runaida Mujuru as possible successors to the ageing Robert Mugabe, not only makes me weep for my beloved country, but it is indeed a bad omen for the country.
This development is synonymous with the miraculous rise of Joseph Chinotimba from a mere security guard to a legislator, reflecting the deep seated rot in post-independent Zimbabwean politics.
Indeed, Zimbabweans have gone to great lengths in inflicting self-harm upon themselves with no end in sight and the madness is alarming as the once mighty cradle of Southern Africa is reduced to a wasteland.
As if Mugabe’s governance is not enough, a possible Mnangagwa or Mujuru reign will not improve the fortunes of the impoverished Southern African state but instead will worsen it as neither candidate is a genuine presidential contender.
In spite of the two’s differences , Mnangagwa and Mujuru have a common DNA in incompetency, accountability flaws, greed, selfishness let alone images soiled with corruption allegations.
Zimbabwe can’t be rescued from her deep rooted socio-economic and political quagmire by any individual like Mnangagwa or Mujuru whose images reflect the rot in the country’s politics.
By vying for the top post in the land, neither candidate has the people at heart but at best, the central motive is to expand and protect their vast economic empires built from scratch in the past three decades oiled by patronage and their connections in Zanu PF with Mugabe at the centre.
Is Trudy Stevenson [Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Senegal], who of late has joined the bandwagon of praise singers wishing for a Mujuru presidency, not aware that she, like Mnagagwa is part of the problem in Zimbabwe’s current crisis?
What makes any genuine Zimbabwean believe that Mnangagwa is a born again who has renounced his dark past to be a saviour capable of rescuing the country from the inferno?
Both Mujuru and Mnangagwa have been in cabinet since 1980 and the two are Mugabe’s disciples. Starting from this premise, it therefore implies that a Mugabe failure is theirs as well just like his successes.
Who has ever heard Mnangagwa or Mujuru disagree with the incumbent on policy except to endorse whatever the latter suggests even if its disastrous? A credible and genuine leader is one who doesn’t always swim along with the tide but if necessary and for the sake of those whose tribulations they share, against it irrespective of the dangers.
As presidential hopefuls, Mnangagwa and Mujuru belong to the far end of the same political spectrum that thrive on appeasing Gushungo for personal gain at the expense of the 13 million Zimbabweans who have been reduced to paupers through years of misrule.
The two are examples of Zimbabwean oligarchs who, like their fellow Russian counterparts in the 1990s under Boris Yelstin, emerged as well- connected politicians starting with nothing but later acquired vast wealth.
Like Russian oligarchs who emerged during the state’s transition from a market-based economy after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, Mnangagwa and Mujuru’s fortunes emerged during and after Zimbabwe’s transition from colonialism to independence.
However, unlike in Russia where the power of the oligarchs is in decline except for those still close to the Kremlin, Zimbabwean oligarchs are on the rise.
In Russia, Putin purged a number of these oligarchs from Boris Berezovsky, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Alex Konanykhin, Vladmir Gusinsky, Vitaly Malkin and many others but Mugabe has built a fence using state institutions around his fellow oligarghs to protect them much to the detriment of the country which gets poorer with each day.
Emmerson Mnangagwa and Joyce Mujuru are among the country’s richest politicians with the Mujuru estate estimated to be worth not less than US$1 billion at a time when more than 70% of the population is poor and lives on less than a dollar a day.
Didn’t the late Solomon Mujuru brag that he didn’t go to war to be poor? The Mujurus own stakes in over 50 companies spurning different sectors from River Ranch, Alamein and Elim farm, Zimasco, Khupukile Resources, Chicken Slice, Willdate Bricks, Dahaw Trading, Benscore Investments , Wedzera and many others spread across the country.
In the 1990s , the Mujurus were reported to have owned most of the commercial properties in Bindura and the family has shares in a company named ART which has been mining diamonds at Chiadzwa since its discovery.
Who doesn’t know about ‘chitutu chaMai Mujuru’ [Mai Mujuru’s heap] at the Chiadzwa diamond fields among diamond panners in Chimanimani? Mugabe knows the people behind the looting of diamonds at Chiadzwa but can’t reign on them as that might implicate him in the racket.
If he is not aware of this mystery why is he reluctant to set up a commission of inquiry to look into the murky world of the precious gems at Chiadzwa? What steps were taken to look into the findings of the parliamentary committee headed by the late Hon Chindori Chininga that reported to parliament on the disappearance of diamonds at Chiadzwa?
Did Mugabe go to Chininga’s funeral and if not why?
Mnagagwa’s vast business empire is alleged to include Zimre, the holding company of Nicoz Diamond , Fidelity Life Assurance , Fidelity Life Asset Management Company, Fidelity Securities , Fidelity Life Medical Aid Society and Zimbabwe Insurance Brokers , alongside AAM , Steelnet , Turnall , General Beltings , Tube and Pipe Industries , First Bank, Pigott Maskew , FSI , CFI Holdings , with its subsidiaries , Agrifoods , Victoria Foods , Dore and Pitt , Farm and City , Suncrest , Crest Breeders and Ross Breeders and not forgetting Jaggers , a formerly bankrupt wholesaler which is alleged to have been acquired in 2011 by Mnangagwa.
These vast economic empires acquired within three decades under the guardianship of Mugabe qualify the Mujurus and Mnangagwas to be among the richest people in the world at a time the country’s national debt stands at a staggering US$11 billion and more than 70% of the population is poor.
Mnangagwa and Mujuru are fingered in several corruption scandals, which although not yet proven due to a lack of will on the state’s part , cast a dark shadow on each one of them , raising questions on their credibility since as the old adage goes, there is no smoke without fire.
Not long ago, the Vice President was caught up in the ZISCO and the War Victims Compensation Fund scandals and not to mention the Econet debacle in which she snubbed Strive Masiyiwa in favour of Telecel , a company owned by a Congolese and a local Consortium that included her close associate James Makamba, a front for her husband Solomon Mujuru and Robert Mugabe’s nephew Leo Mugabe.
Not only that, Joyce Mujuru featured again in the BBC report of the 24th of February 2009, and in this report she is alleged to have attempted to fund a multi-million dollar gold deal in defiance of international sanctions.
The deal allegedly involved selling Congolese gold in Europe.
A company with offices in Warrington in the United Kingdom, Firstar Europe claims that Mrs Mujuru’s daughter, Nyasha del Campo, offered to sell more than three and half tonnes of gold from the DRC and the Vice President was to pay transport costs of delivering the gold to a refinery in Zurich. Felix Eimer of Firstar claims that indeed the Vice President was central to the deal.
Indeed, the Mujurus are fingered again in the plunder of diamonds at Chiadzwa.
Not to be outdone, Mnangagwa is embroiled in several corruption scandals which have dented his image to be a genuine presidential contender. In 2002, the United Nations Security Council implicated him, Vitalis Zvinavashe, Thamer Ahmed Al – Shanfari and several other individuals for the illegal plunder of DRC mineral resources.
Fingered as well were the DRC Minister of the Presidency, Augustin Katumba Mwanke and the Ugandan Chief -of- Staff, Major General James Kazini and others. In 2004, Mnangagwa was implicated in an illegal gold trading scandal, before being embroiled again in 2009 in a $37 billion foreign currency scandal as a member of the board of Treger Holdings.
Who would forgive Mnangagwa for his involvement in the Gukurahundi atrocities in Matabeleland and the Midlands in the 1980s as Minister of State Security ? Does Zimbabwe needs a reincarnation of Idi Amin Dada in Mnangagwa?
Both Joyce Mujuru and Mnangagwa are too flawed to be genuine presidential hopefuls as they are central in the making of the country’s demise. They are only taken seriously in Mugabe’s Ponzi Republic and nowhere else outside the African continent.
The opposition should play their own drum and should not to expect a miracle from either a Mujuru or a Mnangagwa victory in their tug of war to succeed Mugabe for the two are as bad as each other.
I have not focused on Mugabe as he has made a caricature of himself by not listening to advice and this mistake will haunt his legacy for hundreds of years to come, but he can’t defy nature.
Professor Yusuf Kironde Lule [Jonathan Moyo] will continue singing for his supper but I will write not for money nor do I do so to patronise or with a vindictive motive. I write for the love of my country and her people who are caught up in a ferocious storm and should realise where the rain began to beat them before they are able to dry themselves.
Those with ears, let them hear and woe to those who can’t.
William Muchayi is a pro-democracy and political analyst who can be contacted on [email protected]
