Is Mugabe speaking through First Lady?

By Prince Ndlovu

It appears as if things have now utterly and completely fallen apart  in President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, thanks in no small measure to his 49-year-old wife, Grace.

Indeed, so stunning has been the anarchic reversal and turn of events in the party in the last few weeks that where our nonagenarian leader used to trash so-called weevils within the party’s ranks not so long ago, the First Lady has gone on to re-write the rules and the weevils are now well and truly in vogue!

The popular party slogan in Zanu PF, at least as far as the First Family is concerned, is no longer “Down with Weevils”, but “Down with Gamatox”.

Of course, one doesn’t need a PhD to know who is a weevil in the party and who is Gamatox, what the people stand for and to which faction in the party they belong to.

A fortnight ago, the Daily News wrote in a front page editorial that the centre could no longer hold in Zanu PF and that Mugabe had now incontrovertibly lost control of the party, a sentiment that was subsequently given weight by the respected and veteran party elder, Cephas Msipa, who genuinely fears that the party of liberation may be headed for an imminent split.

But who could have imagined that one of the central catalysts of the party’s demise would be Grace herself?

Shock, horror.

It is the understatement of the year to say that Grace’s propensity for the limelight, as well as her uncanny ability to agitate perceived foes and divide the ruling party is unmatched in Zanu PF. She is like a Usain Bolt on steroids in this regard!

On Thursday, the First Lady outdid herself even by her own standards.

Speaking at a rally in Bindura, she shamed all her would-be defenders, who have been claiming she is not aiming her loaded gun at the head of Vice President Joice Mujuru, as she bluntly fingered the beleaguered VP as a factionalist-in-chief in the party that needed to be liquidated.

By all accounts, that rally was a breathtaking spectacle for attendees and all those who watched it live on Comedy Central television, aka, Zanu-PF Broadcasting Corporation.

While we are at it, it seems, according to Grace’s gospel, that all it takes for anyone who is being accused of serious allegations of corruption, demanding bribes and owning underserved multiple farms is merely to say that person is very sorry to Mugabe and their sins will be completely forgiven.

How outrageous!

And doesn’t it stand to reason, dear Mrs Mugabe, that for factionalism to exist in Zanu PF or any other party for that matter, that it would take at least one or two other factional leaders than just-widowed Joice fighting herself?

So, who are the other players Amai that you are not also outing in public, and why?

But wait a minute, isn’t there also a real risk now that Grace’s utterances can now be interpreted as Mugabe speaking through Madam, the self-confessed
$20 million investor in Mazowe?

But then if all this madness is in fact Mugabe’s doing, why would the Dear Leader be communicating with Mujuru this way, with what intentions and hoping for what outcome?

And if Mujuru is as incompetent and as corrupt as his wife is alleging her to be, why has Mugabe kept her so close to him all these decades?

What is the nation supposed to make of this and his own moral, ethical and political standing?

Finally, if some people, particularly those inside Zanu PF, now think that the centre can no longer hold inside the party, then isn’t the end nigh for the party and is it not clear now that Msipa’s worst nightmares are about to be realised for sure?

Time will tell.

However, whatever one thinks about all these dizzying and complex issues, one thing is clear:

What is happening within Zanu PF, particularly Grace’s reckless utterances should concern all right-thinking Zimbabweans irrespective of their politic Herod factional leanings.

Indeed, relations are so frayed inside Zanu PF at the moment that some political observers are concerned that it is just a matter of time before Zimbabweans begin to witness ordered intra-party hits and murders, as well as a complete breakdown in government service.

Surely, all these wars can only end badly for the players involved, their party and Zimbabwe as a whole.

How more serious can things get when the VP has already been charged and convicted by the First Family this openly. All that remains is the appropriate sentencing!

If there has been a ray of light in all this madness, it has been that even the most fanatic followers of Zanu PF, who are often prone to believing too easily the party’s silly spin, including that Zimbabwe’s myriad political and economic problems are a result of sanctions, whites and the hated “evil” West, are now beginning to open their eyes to the realities of our country and cursed body politic.

This is that ALL our problems have everything to do with the legendary misrule of Zanu PF’s corrupt, inept and tyrannical leaders.