Winds of change blowing across Zimbabwe?

By Tichatonga Mangwana

These are trying times for the Zimbabwean dictator: too many problems and too many opposition parties united against the Old Man at the same time.

It has never been like this for Mugabe before. In the last few days, Mugabe`s medical problems are looking dreadful.

Even when this is happening, the oldest president in the world still believes he is in charge.

Within a week he has crisscrossed the world- Kenya, Swaziland and Singapore (well, probably Dubai), giving the impression things are all fine at home thereby minimizing the gravity of the problems his illegal regime faces back at home.

The Arab spring that toppled Arab dictators will not happen here, he tells his political foes. But what Mugabe, Chinamasa, Chombo and Jonathan Moyo stubbornly refuse to sober up to is that the train has left the station for ZANU PF.

The internal history of ZANU PF shows that what goes around comes back to bite you. The Nhari Rebellion of November 1974 represents the climax of the tribal struggle within ZANU.

Sometime in 1974, a group of disgruntled ZANLA cadres, unhappy with the leadership of Tongogara`s High Command, decided to set up a new military leadership/High Command thereby replacing unconstitutionally the High Command led by Tongogara.

Consequently, a nine men military High Command was set up led by Nhari after the capture of the Chifombo military base. As a consequence of the Nhari Rebellion, Chitepo was assassinated on March 18, 1975.

Mugabe, who was free and in Rhodesia during this time, reorganized ZANU after escaping from Rhodesia into Mozambique, relentlessly intensifying the armed struggle until total victory. Mugabe justified the use of violence and the intensification of the armed struggle because the illegal Rhodesian Front regime would not listen to the African majority`s legitimate grievance of “majority rule now.”

Mugabe, in the midst of the internal struggles in ZANU, was to lead a faction of ZANU believed to have assassinated Chitepo. After the defeat of Nhari and his associates, there were mass executions of the Nhari group, and dozens of cadres lost their lives including John Mataure, Edgar Madekurozwa. To Mugabe and the ZANU faction that he led, violence and executions of opponents were legitimate.

During the 1980 election, ZANU PF was notorious for using violence in constituencies it controlled, blocking other parties from campaigning in those areas. The ZANU PF attitude was: “Why should any party go where it is not wanted? Why should any political party go where it is not wanted? Why should any party wish to go and reap where it did not sow?”

Very absurd, is it not, that now faced with a united front against his clueless and collapsing regime, Mugabe now thinks protests and non-violent demonstrations against his failed régime are illegal?

That`s exactly the problem of staying in power forever; your words always come back to haunt and bite you.

A Cameroonian friend at the Institute here says Mugabe came to power when he was at college in 1980, and there were wild celebrations at the university when word came through Mugabe had won the 1980 vote. Now, the friend will be retiring in the next few years, but Mugabe is still in office!

Mugabe justified the use of violence or the armed struggle saying,

“We have tried all manner of peaceful demonstrations, with the biggest being in Salisbury in which Sally took part. These have not been successful hence the armed struggle. So for those who are saying the demonstrations must not be violent to be successful, we need to appreciate that the intention of civil disobedience may be peaceful but participants are forced to become violent through not inaction or actions of their own, but by how the authorities react. Zimbabweans had to resort to violence to free themselves from the shackles of Ian Smith.” (Interview with a BBC reporter, 1979).

Oh, waal, look who is talking about civil rights and the justification of violence if directed to an illegal regime that does not listen to a population that it governs! Violent civil disobedience, according to Mr. Mugabe, is justifiable in circumstances in which an illegal and brutal regime reacts violently to a population that has legal and legitimate concerns. In such circumstances, Mugabe advises, the civilian population is left with no choice to liberate itself from the shackles of an oppressive and repressive regime.

In many ways, the Rhodesian Front regime that Mugabe`s nationalist supporters and fighters resisted shows many similarities to Mugabe`s current gangster and ninja government. Notorious for cheating and stealing the votes since 2003, Mugabe has been leading an illegal regime since, and the people of Zimbabwe have chosen the right option of peaceful demonstrations and marching against Mugabe`s parasitic and illegal regime.

When ZANU PF organizes marches to support the octogenarian, no police details are ever deployed. Yet, when opposition forces, armed with only a court order, organize peaceful protests, ZRP details, armed to the teeth, use violence to break up lawful protests.

It`s clearly ironic that the illegal regime is now employing Rhodesian Front legal instruments such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) to silence the opposition, subvert the constitution and suspend freedoms.

Up to this day, more than three decades after gaining independence, Mugabe is still employing the former oppressor`s oppressive instruments of repression. The use of unjust laws and subverting the constitution by ZANU PF in banning peaceful protests is violence on its own.

Forget about SADC, AU, UN

Recently, I read about Biti`s PDP appealing to SADC to step in and save Zimbabwe. When will the opposition understand that Mugabe and ZANU PF are is still in power because of SADC inaction and complicity? All these organizations endorsed Mugabe`s “land slide” 2013 electoral fraud.

No intervention will ever come from SADC; only Zimbabweans can rescue their future that has been arrested by the current parasitic and incompetent regime. It`s time to stop looking up to SADC or the UN but find a local solution to save Zimbabwe.

The end is nigh, comrades

With mounting health issues and civil unrest, Mugabe is clutching on straws. Flying out to Dubai or Singapore instead of fixing the mess he has caused at home.

The Mugabe regime has never been this weaker. Mugabe certainly is skirting on very, very thin ice. Now flying out to this or that country, Mugabe must be very careful. One day he will fly out and fail to return.

The fate of Zimbabwe`s future lies in the hands of Zimbabweans. They are exercising it in a strategic, non-violent way. The ultimate goal is not, however, just about the removal of Mugabe. It must involve the complete removal of a system that allowed Mugabe to become a monster. Even as Mugabe is battling for his life somewhere in the Middle East, Ngwena and his associates are already tyrannically subverting the constitution by banning peaceful demonstrations in central Harare. The whole system needs to be uprooted and smashed.

Tick tick tick tick… It`s only a matter of time.

Tichatonga Mangwana is a researcher based at the Institute of Research and Development in Kenya. He can be reached at [email protected]