The daughter of Liverpool and Zimbabwe football legend Bruce Grobbelaar is stripping for cash as a seedy webcam model, The Sun newspaper revealed. Blonde Tahli Grobbelaar, 28, charges £3-a-minute to pose topless with a pal.
Tahli Grobbelaar with Bruce in 2008 (Picture: CAMERA PRESS / George Althaus)
The pair paraded in stockings and suspenders for the paper’s investigators. Tahli also spoke of her dad’s playing days before flashing her boobs.
She said: “Well my father is famous. A goalkeeper. He played for Liverpool for 13 years.”
Punters can buy credits at £1 a time to leer at her on a website. Calling herself one of the “UK webcam babes” she writes:
“Fun, sexy and very dirty cam girl for you. I love playing with girls as well as boys and always love to please and try new dirty things out. “As the saying goes you try everything once in life. xxx”
Her home page shows her puckering her lips in a leopard-print bikini and holding a bottle of champagne. Once emailed, she will arrange a time to log on and watch her.
For the right client, Tahli, who is believed to live in London, will pose topless with a pal while they chat. Tahli told the paper’s investigators she was flashing to raise money for her new shoe company. There is no suggestion she offers sex.
Grobbelaar played for Liverpool from 1981 to 1994, winning a European Cup, six league titles and three FA Cups. But he was accused of match-fixing by The Sun in 1994 and went bankrupt after losing a libel case. He and ex-wife Debbie have another daughter Olivia, 24.
South African-born Grobbelaar, 55, now lives in Newfoundland, Canada. His spokesman refused to comment last night. The Sun
SOUTH AFRICA – Former South African president Nelson Mandela was in hospital for a third day today as he continues to battle a lung infection. The anti-apartheid hero, 94, remains in a “serious but stable condition”, according to the latest government update.
Mr Mandela on his 94th birthday
Mandela’s daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini, South Africa’s ambassador to Argentina, flew home to be at his bedside with his third wife Graca Machel and other family members today.
President Jacob Zuma’s office said Mandela’s condition was unchanged and confirmed that he was in intensive care at a hospital in Pretoria. The government said in a statement: “President Jacob Zuma reiterates his call for South Africa to pray for Madiba and the family during this time.”
His former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, visited him on Monday.
Mr Mandela, 94, was admitted to hospital early on Saturday for the third time this year. He is being treated for a lung infection. In releasing the latest update, presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj also denied that visitors were being blocked from seeing Mr Mandela.
He said: “The reality is that the normal procedures when a patient is under intensive care are applying from the medical side.
“Therefore there are limitations on visitors and, you know, that when a person is in intensive care the doctors only allow some very close people to be there – it is not the way it is being presented in the media.”
The presidency said Mr Mandela had been ill for some days at his Johannesburg home, with a recurrence of his long-standing lung problems.
As the debate and controversy around the Constitutional Court ruling that Zimbabwe must go for elections before July 31 swelled, consensus is shifting towards the need for the two MDCs and other opposition parties to forge a grand coalition against Zanu PF if the transition to democracy for Zimbabwe is to be realized.
Tapiwa Chininga
Although Professor Welshman Ncube’s MDC quickly dismissed the idea, it is clear all the parties realise the need to work together if they are to deliver a killer blow to ZANU PF. They all face a common enemy and division will not help them.
At the same time, despite various talk of unity in the opposition to President Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF, the major contentious problem has been how to share power among the two MDCs and other parties.
There has been also much hype about personality differences between the leadership of the parties scattering any hope for unity.
It is clear that ZANU PF is cornered and with just a month away from the plebiscite, the former ruling party is at zero in terms of preparedness for the election.
The party is riddled with factionalism, no manifesto, no policy, rules and guidelines to govern primaries to chose candidates that will represent the party during the elections are not ready and the party faces collapse in most provinces.
Despite their brave faces, clearly the election is not going to be a stroll in the park and any talk of a coalition by their opponents is making ZANU PF behave like a dog with Rabies.
There is clearly no agreement about the best framework for a power sharing agreement between the major opponents of Zanu PF and other fringe parties . They just don’t agree on how that can be done yet his should be where the focus is.
In a paper tittled “The Prospects for Electoral Pacts and Democratic Progress in Zimbabwe” , the director for Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, Mr Pedzisai Ruhanya , clearly demonstrated the magical difference an alliance of the opposition could have worked in the 2008 elections.
“In Harare, Tsvangirai got 72%, Mugabe 19% and Makoni 8%, Bulawayo Tsvangirai 51%, Makoni 37% and Mugabe 11% and Mashonaland West Mugabe 52%, Tsvangirai 42% and Makoni 5%. This trend of Mugabe hugely losing to the combination of Ncube and Tsvangirai was recorded in Masvingo, Midlands, Manicaland, and Matabeleland provinces.
The quantitative meaning of these results is clear: a coalition between Tsvangirai and Ncube will bury Mugabe,” Pedzisai Ruhanya wrote .
Ruhanya underscored the need for the opposition to understand the importance of uniting around a single presidential candidate, and crafting a genuine democratic framework for the elections and beyond.
Simba Makoni, Morgan Tsvangirai and Dumiso Dabengwa
There is no doubt the two MDC formations are central to any electoral pact and therefore it is attendant on the MDC T (being the major party) to initiate serious and genuine talks with other political players and civic society institutions as every vote counts.
The timing and reality dictates necessity for a pact which I think is critical at this moment.
There are many views and suggestions on the best compromise framework between the parties although the appropriate choice of power-sharing approaches will depend on the conflict’s dynamics within the different parties.
The first model will be to use the 2008 elections as the baseline. Parties should agree to support and not contest each other in areas where each party won in 2008 , share and support each other in areas where Zanu PF won.
For presidential candidates, the parties must work as one and choose a candidate most likely to garner the most votes to represent them and share ministerial posts. This will give a chance to parties like MKD and ZAPU that are unlikely to win seats.
The 2008 election show us that MDC -N has support in Matabeleland South while MDC- T has support in other constituencies. Rallying around Tsvangirai gives them more chances.
This model will also give influence to legitimate representatives of minorities groups thereby establishing a more equitable balance of power, making negotiation an attractive alternative to division, promoting and expanding citizen participation in the political process, strengthening voter confidence in open methods of choosing government, and encouraging a competitive political environment.
This option seems more preferable because it emphasizes inclusion and moderation and provide losers with an incentive to work within the system, guaranteeing a voice in national politics for numerically weaker parties, rather than to opt out and confront their supposed coalition partners.
The second model is that each party fight for itself at parliamentary level. At presidential level the parties support the candidate with the best chances of winning. The PACT has to be an Executive pact, i.e. Unity on the presidency – on the understanding that Morgan Tsvangirai will share some of the Executive prerogatives he will have around ministers, Ambassadors etc – not parliament.
Although the first idea will be the best and comprehensible one, given developments on the ground, and also the reality that some of the parties have no stake in the baseline of 2008 elections – it may be too late to have a parliament inspired arrangement.
This is compounded by the fact that the parties have asymetrical electoral strength and hence it will be sensible to fight it out where they have to and get what they get. Another real challenge lies in how best the parties can balance individual interests and party interests and ultimately national interests.
An MDC- T leader who was very close to the failed attempts in 2008 lamented how the negative results affected the democratic discourse of this country and for the same reasons and for the fear that attempts this time may yield similar results, he was tempted to go the executive pact route.
Feeding into expectations of weary Zimbabweans are reports, that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai , leader of the mainstream MDC formation, Welshman Ncube leader of the smaller faction of the MDC and former ZANU PF heavyweights Simba Makoni and Dumiso Dabengwa, who now lead Mavambo and a resurgent Zapu respectively, on Wednesday took a public stance and vowed not to participate in an electoral process without the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which is the basis of the unity government.
But ZANU PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa reportedly poured scorn at the position taken by the MDC formations in the unity government and other opposition parties.
“They (the political parties) have ganged against ZANU PF in the past and what have they achieved? We are not afraid that they will be united at the summit and we are going to elections” Mutasa said, referring to the extra ordinary SADC summit that was supposed to be held this Sunday but had to be postponed indefinitely following reports that ZANU PF had developed cold feat.
It was also reported that Tsvangirai took advantage of the gathering and tried to push for a grand political pact against President Mugabe in the forth coming elections.
It is important to examine closely the two major characters that will be instrumental in this unity pact- Professor Welshman Ncube and Dr Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition director, McDonald Lewanika said the current electoral map based on 2008 results seems to suggest that Tsvangirai cannot win the first round without Ncube’s votes.
“He knows this, so does Welsh. More than personal gripes or revenge, Welshman’s reluctance to talk a pact now could be based on a power equation. Whatever is perceived as power now, and Welshman’s votes now, if they are retained in an Election with no clear winner, they quadruple in value”.
At the end of the day Welshman has no real choice than to eventually get into bed with Morgan, but the price for doing that is lower now because of the stakes, and will be higher just before an election or in a run off scenario. That could probably be the calculation, “ Lewanika observed.
Both Welshman and Morgan have a history, but both of them have shown that they can see the bigger picture and can set aside rivalries in the interests of what is best for the country and what is most advantageous to them as parties.
Despite these challenges, it is not too late to forge a workable alliance although some parties may not be sufficiently desperate or feel insufficiently compelled.
Enmities may be too deep for parties to share power for mutual benefit, but there is no doubt it is in their best interest and the above mechanisms or any other can form the basis for the discussion.
One may not have intimate knowledge of the situation, especially of the true predisposition of the parties and their willingness to live together within a common or shared political framework but it is certain a coalition will work if the leaders’ commit themselves to democracy-building and believe that the failure to accommodate will precipitate greater setbacks or failure of the democratic revolution •
Zimbabweans hope that the suggested framework for Power-sharing will be embraced by a core of moderate political leaders who genuinely represent the groups they purport to lead and arrangements will be arrived at indigenously, not merely the result of heavy external pressures or parties’ short-term, zero-sum expectations.
Tapiwa Chininga is a Journalist and a Law student based in South Africa.
Leading by example: PM Tsvangirai took his young twins to register as voters
What is voter registration?
Voter registration is a process of making yourself eligible to vote in the upcoming harmonized elections. To register, visit your local Registrar General’s Office. You can vote only if you are registered as a voter and your name appears on the voter’s roll.
Leading by example: PM Tsvangirai took his young twins to register as voters
Where can I register to vote?
You must be a resident in the constituency where you wish to register as a voter. It does not matter that you have been absent from the constituency for a temporary purpose. But you will not be able to register in that constituency if you have not resided there for a continuous period of 12 months.
You can register at:
Your local Registrar General’s Office on weekdays during normal working hours, or
When available, a mobile voter registration facility operating in your area.
Why do I need to register as a voter and to Vote
Your vote is your voice. It is important that you vote to choose leaders that can take Zimbabwe forward. You can only be able to vote if you are registered as a voter and your name appears on the voter’s roll.
Who can register as a voter?
Any Zimbabwean citizen (male or female) 18 years or older
Those who were formally excluded as “Aliens” and have now be made Zimbabwean citizen by the new constitution.
If you currently have an “Alien” ID, you must replace it with a Citizen ID at your local Registrar General’s Office or at the voter registration centre.
What do I need to register as a voter?
National identity card (Valid passport or ID)
Proof of residence in the constituency:
Urban Dwellers
A certificate of occupation/title deeds or lodgers permit/card or Rates/water statement in applicant’s name, or Electricity statement in applicant’s name, or
Credit store statement showing the physical address of the applicant, in the respective area.
Written statement from landlord, parent or friend confirming the applicant’s address accompanied by a house card, electricity bill, rates bill or any similar document in the name of the landlord, parent or friend staying with applicant.
A statement by head of the school, hospital, mine or other institution where the claimant resides.
Sworn statement by employer or applicant confirming applicant’s address.
Hospital bill or envelopes with post markings reflecting applicant’s address and any other information or document sufficient to ascertain the applicant’s residence
Rural/Farm Dwellers
Confirmation by the Village Head or Resettlement Officer or Farm Owner Offer letter
Note: If you cannot present anyone of the above, you can sign an affidavit at the Registrar General’s Office (They will provide the form).
A statement by head of the school, hospital, mine or other institution where the claimant resides.
A confirmation letter by councillor, village headman or chief confirming that the claimant resides in the ward he or she claims to reside in
A confirmation letter by farm owner or resettlement officer confirming that the claimant resides in the ward he or she claims to reside in.
Hospital bill or envelopes with post markings reflecting applicant’s address and any other information or document sufficient to ascertain the applicant’s residence.
Last week I attended a wedding at one of Harare’s exclusive, treacherous-to-access plush ‘mountain homes’.
Xtreme Opinion with Rejoice Ngwenya
Inevitably, at such events where sophisticated five-digit bank account socialites converge, it would be difficult, if not outright impossible to evade the ghost of political debate that trails me like a famished jackal.
Whenever I encounter enlightened citizens – in a bus, plane, funeral, wedding, church, conference – my first duty as a responsible Zimbabwean activist is to deride, demean, and denigrate ZANU-PF barbaric dictatorship. It’s habitual – like smoking – a necessary evil for troubled minds.
By sheer coincidence, the leadership qualities of MDC-T presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai and his political entourage were placed on the altar of debate. It was not so much that ZANU-PF perennial contestant Robert Mugabe was seen as ‘better’ – although some argued that his treachery has made him survive bruising battles for four decades. There were – of course – two schools of thought.
One, that if Tsvangirai was ‘better’ than Mugabe, he would have shown drastic difference in his worldview of luxury, opulence and love for women. That school roasted him for failing to inculcate a sense of responsible leadership in his Members of Parliament and Councillors who have shown an insatiable appetite for blissful living compared only to ZANU-PF top leadership.
The protagonists argued how local authorities had become havens of profiteering, corruption and decadence. Water had disappeared from taps while pot-holes had become entrenched in the highway code of vehicular genetics. The school pounded Tsvangirai’s migration from the humble jacaranda environs of Strathaven to the dreamy palm trees of Highlands.
He was pummeled for chasing women and marrying a ZANU-PF bride, frolicking on high seas and treating young girls like sex toys. Tsvangirai was ‘accused’ of lacking political strategy and being plenty on rhetoric and demagoguery but shot on strategy. They said he promised change in 2000, yet in 2013, he still gives ZANU-PF as an excuse for failure. Ultimately, Tsvangirai was said to be at the basement of leadership finesse.
The second school of thought was adamant that not all good leaders are comparable to Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela. They insisted that Tsvangirayi had ‘inherited’ a system paralysed by a culture of impunity and corruption, such that his ‘lack of power’ stunted his capacity to change things. The instruments of hate in ZANU-PF were applied ruthlessly to defeat the MDC-T mission of transformation.
One gave an example of how Ignatius Chombo goes through each council resolution with a toothpick to defeat council policy. They argued vehemently that Augustine Chihuri, Patrick Chinamasa, Tobaiwa Mudede, Happison Muchechetere, Tafataona Mahoso, Saviour Kasukuwere, Obert Mpofu and Chidyausiku were instruments of hate and repression applied effectively by Mugabe to thwart the noble intentions of Tsvangirayi and MDC-T.
One ‘brave’ guest insisted that on an intellectual and ‘moral uprightness’ scale, both Professor Welshman Ncube and Dr Simba Makoni would easily rout Mugabe and Tsvangirai. MDC-T sympathisers insisted that morality and intellect had no bearing on political competency! They were quick to site Jacob Zuma, Bill Clinton and Silvio Berlusconi as examples of insignificance of moral attributes in political leadership.”
Presidential leadership is not a contest for university chancellorship,” mumbled one protagonist. Adjudicating such ‘free style’ debates requires great skill, since everyone wants their opinion head simultaneously. In retrospect, I can only marvel at why we Africans set ourselves up for leadership disaster. I would have thought that morality and intellect totally outweigh populist flattery and demagoguery in modern political choices.
Motorbikes made by the Loncin Motorcycle Factory in China
By Lance Guma
Hundreds of motorbikes have been purchased and delivered for use by a group of about 300 soldiers nicknamed the ‘Boys on Leave’ who have been assigned to campaign on behalf of president Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party.
Motorbikes made by the Loncin Motorcycle Factory in China
Nehanda Radio understands the motorbikes were bought from the Loncin Motorcycle Factory in China and delivered in truckloads about three months ago. One such truckload was sent to Thornhill Air Base in Gweru.
A source at the base told us “the soldiers are currently undergoing Class 3 (motorbike) training all over the country. When the bikes were delivered, we were wondering why they were so many of them when we don’t use them.”
“Now it’s out in the open at the base. The so-called ‘Boys on Leave’ who were appointed political commissars for Zanu PF will be in all the rural districts campaigning for Zanu PF, including terrorising villagers were necessary.”
Nehanda Radio was told that the ‘Boys on Leave’ will be issued with the bikes at the end of the current training exercise. The bikes will be used during Zanu PF’s political campaigns and help the soldiers access areas that have poor roads.
“It’s also a big worry that each of these ‘soldiers on bikes’ will be issued with an AK47 assault rifle and a pistol. The idea is to scare people in the rural areas even without beating them up, but just by being visible” our source told us.
In November 2010 Air Vice-Marshal Henry Muchena from the Air Force of Zimbabwe was sent to the Zanu PF headquarters in Harare and assigned to lead this team of 300 army officers deployed around the country to help Zanu PF.
Former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director internal, Sydney Nyanhongo, was also reported to be part of the team and working directly with Zanu PF. This was after political commissar Webster Shamu admitted that grassroots Zanu PF structures had crumbled and were in a state of chaos.
According to the plan three top commanders will be stationed in each of the country’s 10 provinces assisted by three soldiers per district. With Zimbabwe having around 59 districts it means the team will have a minimum of 207 soldiers.
Although the official line is that the army is helping to rebuild ZANU PF structures, past history suggests a more sinister motive.
After the March 2008 elections the Joint Operations Command, which groups the army, police and CIO, similarly deployed 200 senior army officers who led a murderous campaign of retribution. Hundreds were killed and tens of thousands tortured or maimed.
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Thug in Chief: Jimmy Kunaka leads the notorious ZANU PF Chipangano gang
By Lance Guma
The leader of a notorious gang, fiercely loyal to President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party, allegedly raped a Harare woman on Thursday, before bluntly telling her “even if you report me to the police I will not be arrested.”
Thug in Chief: Jimmy Kunaka leads the notorious ZANU PF Chipangano gang
Chipangano leader Jim Kunaka is alleged to have raped the woman (name supplied) at his offices at Carter House. The building was illegally seized by his gang from the City of Harare and since then has been turned it into a ‘mafia centre’ of sorts.
The woman is too frightened to speak to the media but her best friend spoke to Nehanda Radio and told us Kunaka raped her without using any protection and boasted afterwards;
“Chero ukandirepotera handisungwe cause tisu varidzi venyika- even if you report me to the police, I will not be arrested because we are the owners of this country.”
Two weeks ago Kunaka was outside his offices standing next to his BMW X5 when the woman, a clothing vendor, sold two t-shirts to him at US$15 each. On Thursday she went into his office to collect the money owed to her.
It was in the office that Kunaka then raped her. He also told her afterwards “ndagara ndichingokuda. I bought those t-shirts kuti ndikuswededze mudhuze. Kana ukaramba ndokuitisa rough ne Chipangano.”
In April this year Kunaka was summoned to court after beating up one of his three wives at Mbare Musika terminus in full view of travelling commuters.
Kunaka who wants to be a Zanu PF MP in Mbare did not even bother to show up at the Harare Civil Court after wife Loveness Sithole had him arraigned while she sought a protection order.
In her testimony she said Kunaka was in the habit of bashing her each time he visits. Loveness revealed that the gang leader visits her once or twice per month at her place of residence in Waterfalls.
“I am one of his three wives but I want him to be barred from visiting my place. He is in the habit of bashing me each time he comes to my place. At one point in time he thrashed me at Mbare Musika rank after I have approached him in bid to talk to him over our affair,” she said.
Loveness also told the court that she had tried to divorce Kunaka but he kept on forcing himself on her. Asked by magistrate Vongai Muchuchuti whether she had given him a token of divorce or not Loveness said:
“I have once tried to engage his relatives but nothing materialised. I am yet to give him a token of divorce. I will be more comfortable if he stays away from my place or from me.”
Loveness also told the court that Kunaka had since dumped his other wives to cohabit with his mistress.
Strangely the magistrate failed to bar Kunaka from Loveness’s home claiming they were still husband and wife. But the court, in Kunaka’s absence ordered him to refrain from threatening her and being violent towards her.
Kunaka leads the Chipangano gang, a shadowy group of violent militia youths who are fiercely loyal to Zanu PF and behind what many have described as the “progressive militarisation and zanunisation of public facilities”.
Over the years the youths hid under the Zanu PF ‘empowerment’ agenda to ‘access resources illegally’ and raked in over US$30,000 per day by charging ‘ranking fees’ at bus terminuses in central Harare and other parts of the city.
They also took over several council markets like Siyaso and Mupedzanhamo, charging vendors extortionate amounts in fees.
Chipangano also took over a council building, Carter House, in Mbare, and the council was threatened into silence over the matter. The building was even turned into a terror base for the group.
Underlying their impunity, in 2011, the youths rampaged through Town House, in full view of police officers, and beat up council employees. The same mob invaded Parliament, beating up MP’s and journalists, but no arrests were made.
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Grace Kwinjeh, a veteran MDC-T activist and fearless campaigner
By Never Kadungure
MUTARE – Veteran journalist Geoff Nyarota failed in his bid to become the MDC-T parliamentary candidate for Makoni South after the sitting MP Pishai Muchauraya powered to a convincing confirmation victory.
Grace Kwinjeh, a veteran MDC-T activist and fearless campaigner
Muchauraya who was arrested by police on Friday following bizarre allegations that he threatened with death one Amos Kutiya, an election campaign manager for Nyarota, still secured 447 YES votes against 49 NO votes.
In Makoni Central former journalist Grace Kwinjeh won in the primary election for a constituency left orphaned after its MP John Nyamande died in a tragic car crash in November 2009.
After the weekend’s round of internal confirmations and primaries all the Manicaland sitting MP’s were confirmed, except for two MP’s, whose confirmation exercise was abandoned due to some electorate grievances.
Sitting MP’s who were confirmed to stand for re-election include:
The exercise was abandoned in Chikanga-Dangamvura, Mutare North, Mutasa South and Buhera West.
Those who won orphan constituencies include: the provincial chairman Julius Magarangoma (Buhera North) Isaac Sithole (Chimanimani East), Grace Kwinjeh (Makoni Central) and David Tekeshe (Headlands).
Sitting MP’s who were uncontested are Elton Mangoma (Makoni North), Matheo Mlambo (Chipinge East), David Chimhini (Mutasa North), Trevor Saruwaka (Mutasa Central), Lynette Karenyi-Kore (Chimanimani West) and Douglas Mwonzora (Nyanga North).
Chipinge Central elections are still to be conducted after all the structures in the district are fully constituted. This we are told will be followed by a structure verification exercise.
So far the exercise has been held in all provinces with a number of MPs not confirmed. They have a chance to redeem themselves in the primaries.
For each constituency there is a voters’ roll that was prepared by the party’s election directorate and the voters are using transparent boxes.
Under new party rules sitting legislators have to go through a confirmation exercise by their respective constituencies. Only legislators who fail to garner two-thirds support from their constituencies have to go for primary elections.
The official statistics of the process will be announced in due course.
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Zimbabwe’s fluid political drama has of late been spiced by the entry of Baba Jukwa into this turbulent mine field, who, within months, has attracted more than 130 000 followers on Facebook.
Baba Jukwa
He, like the fictitious Matigari in Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s Matigari, claims to have a compelling mission in Zimbabwe’s political landscape of fighting evil, corruption and nepotism.
In his own words, he is a ‘concerned father, fighting nepotism and directly linking community with their leaders, government and ministers.”
However, unlike Matigari, Baba Jukwa is real and not fictitious although he prefers anonymity, promising to disclose his identity at the appropriate time.
Baba Jukwa’s nasty public spat with Amai Jukwa, reflects the succession dynamics in Zanu PF where the Mnangagwa and Mujuru factions are pitted in a ferocious tug of war to succeed Mugabe.
Unlike Amai Jukwa who is an advocate of the status quo, Baba Jukwa is a reformist whose grand plan is to reform Zanu PF in order to ensure the party’s survival and continued relevance.
In Baba Jukwa’s view, Zanu PF desperately needs renewal and a change of direction, if ever the former liberation movement is to survive and weather the challenges of post-independence Zimbabwe.
The party fights for relevance and its liberation credentials alone cannot save it from extinction if it fails to reform and adapt to the challenges of the day.
As Baba Jukwa views it, the current leadership in Zanu PF — the government, the military and police force have diverted from the core principles that guided the struggle, hence the urgent need for reform and a change of course by the party if ever it is to survive.
Attempts to rebrand the Mugabe image, which is already soiled, are futile as that would not resuscitate the fortunes of the party. Leadership renewal in Zanu PF, according to Baba Jukwa, must go parallel with a change in direction of the party, as the two are paramount to its survival.
The old guard who are the torch bearers of the party are both physically and mentally incapacitated to effect the much-needed reforms. Their ideas, besides being archaic, no longer resonate with the electorate 33 years after independence.
The Young Turks, who are expected to be better positioned to take over from the old guard, are in no better position as they lack credibility.
This group, like the old guard, does not have the party at heart but just masquerade as reformers in an attempt to disguise their hidden agenda which deviates from the aims and aspirations of the struggle.
Nobody within Zanu PF has dared to challenge Mugabe and his leadership publicly before, besides feable attempts by Dzikamai Mavhaire, Margret Dongo and Michael Mataure.
The above three have called for leadership renewal in Zanu PF before and as usual, Mugabe descended upon them with the force of a sledge hammer, with devastating political consequences.
Unlike Dongo, Mataure and Mavhaire, Baba Jukwa calls for not only leadership renewal, but a change of culture in Zanu PF which glorifies incompetence, corruption, nepotism , lack of accountability and violence.
Mugabe, according to Baba Jukwa, is surrounded by a bunch of sycophants who compete to outmanoeuvre one another in praising the president, not because they love him so much, but for favours.
Surprisingly, the president seems to enjoy all this drama, as he has become the biblical Nebuchadnezzar listening only to praise songs and not to criticism. T
his culture, according to Baba Jukwa, has created a semi-god in Mugabe, thereby ruining the party as very few advisors surrounding the president are genuine and bold enough to correct him when he goes wrong.
The rest just sing along, not because they enjoy the music, but because by singing as loud as they can, that guarantees them positions in government and protection of the wealth they have amassed.
Instead of addressing the genuine issues that are vital for the party’s survival, many in Zanu PF are up in arms against Baba Jukwa. Thousands of taxpayers money has been put on this mysterious figure’s head. Does anyone in Zanu PF bother to scrutinise the truths raised by Baba Jukwa?
Who really is this Bradley Manning of Zimbabwe who has dared to swim in crocodile-infested river against the tide? Is this character a real Zanu PF cadre or is a mole from the opposition? How does he/she get access to all the classified information?
Zanu PF risks making the same mistake made by Jews in crucifying Jesus assuming that their redeemer was yet to come , unknowing that by so doing, they had murdered their own son who holds the keys to heaven.
This article was originally published in the Zimbabwe Standard newspaper
HARARE – Despite its feigned bravado about preparedness for crunch elections this year, President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF is in a serious predicament about the party’s prospects in pulling off the election by July 31, analysts say.
President Robert Mugabe attends a Zanu PF conference
Zanu PF spent the better part of the year claiming that elections would be held by June 29, a propaganda line which has dramatically and embarrassingly collapsed.
To date, Zanu PF has completely failed to hold primary elections which are likely to be messy given the intense rivalry among camps angling to succeed the 89-year-old Mugabe.
Apart from being financially bankrupt, the former ruling party is also riddled with factionalism which has literally destroyed party structures in seven of the 10 provinces with party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo yesterday admitting that there are some areas which need “readjusting.”
“The money will be found. Do you honestly think we will go for elections without money?” Gumbo said without revealing the source.
With less than a month to go before the July 31, deadline, the ex-majority party is yet to hold primary elections to select candidates as rivals who include young Turks, party bigwigs and the Women’s League slug it out for positions.
The politburo — Zanu PF’s highest decision making body — has been forced to shelve primary election guidelines for over a year now because rivals cannot agree on the rules and regulations.Analysts say with Zanu PF in such a mess, its prospects of winning the forthcoming elections are narrow and only a miracle will save the stuttering party.
“We are ready for elections. Don’t worry about the fact that we have not held primary elections. The politburo will be meeting on Wednesday to discuss the matter,” Gumbo said.
However, insiders say Zanu PF is at its weakest and dismissed Gumbo’s assertions that this week’s politburo meeting will find a solution.
Zanu PF has been unable to deal with the sticking issues regarding the rules governing the elections but Gumbo insisted the party has agreed on 95 percent over the issues.
Fronted by Oppah Muchinguri, women in Zanu PF are demanding a quota — something that is also provided for in the new Constitution but being strenuously resisted by party hardliners who expect to be rewarded with seats for their loyalty.
According to the new Constitution, a total of 60 seats are reserved for women in the House of Assembly, a matter which will also be addressed in the Electoral Act which is due for amendment before elections.
Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya says if Mugabe is serious about holding elections by July 31, he should go ahead and proclaim the date.
“If Zanu PF is seriously ready for election, let Mugabe call for elections before the amendment of the Electoral Act. It is now a week after the courts made their decision. Why has he not proclaimed election dates if he is serious?”, Ruhanya queried.
Schedule 6 of the new Constitution states that there should be an amendment of the Electoral Act before election dates can be announced.
With barely a month before the lapse of the Constitutional Court deadline, Parliament is in a race against time to amend existing legislations to conform to the new Constitution.
Ruhanya, who is also the director of political think tank, the Zimbabwe Institute of Democracy, added: “We all know Mugabe is not a product of an election, we need to know what they are up to that is convincing them that they are ready for an election.”
Dewa Mavhinga, a senior researcher with the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch said Zanu PF believes it is ready because they think reforms are not necessary.
He said the former ruling party might be sincere about its readiness and willingness to abide by the court ruling in the comfort of their support from the military and also a skewed State-controlled media.
“Zanu PF’s insistence that they are ready for elections when all indicators are that they are not helps divert attention from important reforms on the grounds that there is no time to have the reforms.
“Zanu PF has been saying they are ready for elections since December 2010 while taking little action to pave way for elections that are genuinely free and fair,” Mavhinga said.
With Zanu PF bullish and adamant that polls will be held this July without reforms, the two MDC formations and other opposition parties have taken a stand saying they will not go for polls without reforms.
Sadc, guarantors of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) will soon hold a summit to deliberate the Zimbabwe election crisis including poll funding and also the implementation of an election roadmap. Daily News
