Why ZimPF shake up is a blessing in disguise

By Patson Dzamara

I have always believed that there is going to be a remnant from ZANU PF. The fact that it’s ZANU PF’s sunset is incontestable.

In light of the aforementioned position, I wish to once again register my position that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. It is however critical to underscore the fact that for a better future, a sinner has to regenerate and reform.

Indeed, It is a fact that the majority of those who left ZANU PF left the system but the system and its DNA is still very much alive in them. Of course, out of convenience and necessity they presented a reformed face. It really takes a person who has been exposed to the system to understand how it hardens it’s surrogates to such an extend that reform is not a stroll in the park.

With that in mind the following realities lead me to conclude that this is a blessing in disguise.

1. In as much as we are clamouring for a coalition, bulldozing through with unreformed elements in the name of inclisivity would cost us the transition. Eventually their true colours would be manifest and derail the transition mission. It is therefore good that the sifting is happening now.

2. After this shake up, we are going to know a lot more about the people we welcomed and were about to graft into the transition mission. They are surely going to expose each other after this. Brace up for some pertinent revelations.

3. Most importantly this serves to reveal how relevant or irrelevant Mai Mujuru and her gang are to Zimbabwe’s political landscape. They are clearly not as relevant even though they are a critical constituency to be grafted into the coalition, I mean the reformed ones, if there are any.

4. In light of the the above points, ZIM PF stands to benefit more than anyone in a coalition matrix. They need it more, otherwise without the coalition they don’t stand any practical chance of doing anything meaningful unless if something drastic happens.

5. It is therefore only practical to lean towards the tried and tested leadership of Tsvangirai and the MDC-T, either under a coalition or not. The MDC-T must make it a point to find its former members who have now become distant cousins.

(Patson Dzamara is a democracy advocate, leadership coach and author based in Zimbabwe)