The period before and after ZanuPF’s infamous December 2014 Congress witnessed the most ruthless purges of ZanuPF party stalwarts perceived to be loyal to the embattled former Vice President Joyce Mujuru. What followed was a major hype to the effect that by messing with Mujuru the ruling party had struck a raw nerve and would pay dearly for its foolish actions, but more than six months later there is still no sign Mujuru has any appetite for a fight of any description. Was it all a hoax, or was it a flawed prediction?
Given Mujuru’s long silence despite the stalwarts in her camp repeatedly promising fireworks from her, it can be safely concluded that the fireworks are not going to happen, and if they do, they will be grossly mistimed. Shortly after Mujuru and senior party cadres in her camp were unconstitutionally suspended or dismissed from ZanuPF it was widely reported that the formation of a powerful no-nonsense party led by her was imminent and if it was going to be effective it should have been launched around that time, when the iron was still hot, so to speak.
Mujuru’s following was estimated at more than 70% of the total ZanuPf following. She reportedly commanded the support of almost the whole of ZanuPF, with strategically placed influential individuals in all government institutions, including the all-important army, CIO and Police forces, controlling which is tantamount to controlling the country. At that time she enjoyed the crucial advantage that she was believed to be capable of giving Mugabe a run for his money.
Her suspension was preceded by the brutal culling of more than 200 influential ZanuPF office-bearers, 14 cabinet ministers and all ten provincial chairpersons of the party. We are still counting, as the shocking purges continue unabated.
A scenario such as this should logically have activated an avalanche of criticism, protests and defections, but fear, which has become a critical factor in Zimbabwe, certainly played a role in preventing any form of desertion from the party.
ZanuPF has turned Zimbabwe into a veritable land of fear. Everyone is afraid of speaking their minds, whether it is to constructively point out positive things that will set the country on the right track or expose corruption. There are very few brave men and women prepared to raise their heads above the parapet, among them swashbucklers Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo, Temba Mliswa, Margaret Dongo, Ray Kaukonde and Job Sikhala. The rest are gripped by fear and prefer to go into hiding or even commit suicide rather than face the wrath of ZanuPF.
Interestingly, Mugabe himself is not spared by this manifestation of fear. The man is arguably the most timid leader in the world, which is hardly surprising given that he knows he is occupying a position that he obtained by subterfuge, and lives by the sword. He is a paranoid president who imagines that everyone is out to get him and is always making unfounded accusations about people wanting to assassinate him.  According to him Sithole, Tsvangirai, Mujuru, and the USA have all made plans to slay him, and lately the ICC has become another organisation baying for his blood. He has in the past expressed fears he will go like Gaddafi and Kabila. It has emerged that when he lost to Tsvangirai in the 2008 elections he turned white with fear and even considered doing a runner to China.
On the issue of Mujuru coming to the rescue of the country, Zimbabweans will do well to exercise a cautious and sober approach. Mujuru was well placed to discomfit Mugabe and his Zanu had she acted resolutely at the right time. If she had announced an unambiguous position as soon as she was suspended from ZanuPF she would have caused the party irreparable damage, but she dithered and sent mixed signals by appearing to make veiled attacks on Mugabe and at the same time showering praises on him and swearing allegiance to him.
Some people have argued that any attempts by her to break away from ZanuPF would have been futile, citing attempts by the likes of Edgar Tekere, Margaret Dongo and Simba Makoni that had fallen flat on the back. What needs to be borne in mind is that Mujuru’s case was different in that the magnitude of disgruntlement was unprecedented because a vast number of powerful people were affected all at once. All these party cadres who wielded power in ZanuPF, in addition to the large numbers believed to still be in the ZanuPF structures, only needed an organised leadership to rally behind. Many anonymously signalled their intention to be part of the new political arrangement once it materialised.
The problem was that Mujuru was not prepared to take a risk and wanted to see the numbers behind her before she could make the plunge, but equally those still in ZanuPF wanted to see a powerful cue from her that she was spoiling for a bruising fight with Mugabe’s ZanuPF before they could defect to her side, afraid of the fate that had befallen former dissidents. They wanted to abandon ship not to jump onto one that was getting ready to set sail, but onto one that is already making steady progress on the turbulent waters of the treacherous sea and has given concrete assurances that it will weather the storm.
Mujuru has failed to instill confidence in her faction and her position has weakened even before she has launched her supposed party. Themba Mliswa, who initially signalled he was part of the formation, later made scathing attacks on her in an indisputable testament to the fact that support is dangerously haemorrhaging from her.
The former VP finds herself in the unenviable situation where she has to choose between gunning for the presidency and losing the billions that she amassed with her late husband. She is not stupid and she knows how things work in ZanuPF. In ZanuPF you cannot challenge Mugabe and not have your billions wiped out. If truth be told, that is why Mujuru finds it so difficult to take a decisive stance against Mugabe.
Mujuru also knows that what little support she enjoys is from within the larger ZanuPF camp because outside ZanuPF she is viewed as being just as corrupt as all the other ZanuPF people. She and all the other embattled ZanuPF leaders were part and parcel of the same system that was responsible for taking Zimbabwe from being one of the world’s most vibrant economies, although it was under total international economic sanctions, to being the country with the world’s weakest economy in the shortest period in recorded history, albeit in peace time and under no sanctions. Zimbabwe under Mugabe and his ZanuPF is the only country ever known to have achieved such a disgraceful feat.
From the foregoing, it would appear a waste of time to expect Mujuru to come to the country’s rescue. The only meaningful role she and other disgruntled ZanuPF members can play if they are really repentant is to expose ZanuPF’s rigging mechanisms and help the country hold genuinely free and fair elections.