Mugabe’s junta in Harare taking no prisoners

By Makusha Mugabe

“All what is happening now is in the political domain and all this will end when successful politicians emerge. It is a political process, it becomes a legal issue when the judiciary is involved.” – George Charamba. 

Charamba’s dismissal of the charges levelled against Vice-President Joice Mujuru and other ministers as mere political allegations, and the arrest of Job Sikhala expose a desperate regime resorting to rule by intimidation.

In the case of VP Mujuru she has obviously been intimidated into not challenging the hatchet job that has been done against her by the allegations, which Charamba now says are just political, which will not be translated into legal ones.

In other words the newspapers were just used to cast aspersions on the vice President and all those who supported an open debate on President Mugabe’s succession in order to weaken them politically.

Obviously the “political” issues would be turned into legal or criminal ones if Mrs Mujuru or any of her supporters show political defiance, and the Police or Attorney-General would be invoked if necessary, so this is a regime that is surviving by blackmail.

The same applies to the arrest of Job Sikhala whose business was disrupted when the CIO “arrested” him, reportedly at Beitbridge. It is all meant to intimidate citizens and it highlights the rule by fear which the Zanu (PF) junta hopes that Zimbabweans will succumb to.

Having barred Joice Mujuru from running for the vice presidency of the party and country by accusing her of plotting to remove him, or even to kill him according to reports concocted by Jonathan Moyo and The Herald, the way has now been left open for the junta to carry on with placing whoever it wants in the government.

The most common attribute of the people who make up this regime junta is their corruption, but they have the temerity to accuse others of corruption, as the Herald did with respect to Dzikamai Mavhaire and Munacho Mutezo and even called for their arrest.

But George Charamba now says this was just politics!

What kind of politics is that? Machiavellian dictatorship politics, with a ruthless junta that has been operating in Zanu (PF) with military precision, orchestrated by the likes of Henry Muchena who quit the airforce to become a director at Zanu (PF) HQ.

Others in the junta are the likes propagandist Jonathan Moyo, major-general Douglas Nyikayaramba and Aaron Daniel Tonderai Nhepera, a deputy director-general at the CIO, commanding a whole army of agents and backed by the President’s office with a $200 million budget.

They have now succeeded in neutralising the Mujuru camp, according to the narrative that they are presenting in their public messaging. Their operations expose another layer of the Mugabe dictatorship abusing citizen’s tax dollars to fund partisan activities in support of Zanu (PF), yet the people of Zimbabwe do not support Zanu (PF), just like Zanu (PF) activists who do not support the junta faction that seems to be winning.

The evidence of the unpopularity of the junta is obvious. As reported by The Herald, the Politburo removed the names of Webster Shamu and Sylvester Nguni from the list of central committee members even though they had been voted for in their own province.

It leaves Zanu (PF) supporters wondering why they are even going to a Congress if President Mugabe is going to appoint who he wants, and Zimbabweans also wondering what this will mean for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe if the same people who rigged previous elections on behalf of Zanu (PF) are now going to be in charge of Zanu (PF).

For Robert Mugabe it is the same old story about staying in power until he dies; and for the junta, led Emmerson Mnangagwa, it is just a way take over power so that they can protect their illegally acquired wealth and forestall any judicial processes for the crimes that they have committed – chief among them the murder of 20 000 during Gukurahundi.

Jonathan Moyo has proved beyond doubt that he cannot be trusted, not by democrats, nor by anybody else, and Joice Mujuru’s fate now lies in the hands of the junta – her previously revered role in the liberation war now in tatters, together with that of the propagandist who was responsible for it, Webster Shamu.

And in a worse state is the international community’s approach to the Zimbabwean crisis, with tonnes of reports, all pointing to a regime that is not interested in democracy, but forced to engage with it to avoid answering the inevitable question – how do you deal with a repressive government whose people have been so cowed that they would rather pray for miracles than confront their government. Change Zimbabwe.com