By Wilton Nyasha Machimbira | The Zimbabwe People First party has been engulfed by a power struggle inferno. It’s indeed a case of struggle within a struggle and one wonders whether the Zimbabwe opposition political parties will be able to oust ZANU PF when they cannot manage and organise themselves. Being a CEO of a political organisation is not a walk in the park, its complex and challenging. It requires innate abilities and robust conflict management skills. The Zimpf party has been torn by internal strife notwithstanding the fact that it is in its embryonic stage. History has it that political parties normally go through a very difficult phase after unexpected results in elections. Such is a case of post-election trauma. The trauma can fuel disharmony which can result in complete disintegration of the party. The ruling NCA in South Africa was not spared of post-election trauma after the just ended elections which saw the party support base dwindling in metropolitans of Johannesburg and Pretoria.

The phase Zimpf is going through is an unavoidable phase especially in the opposition politics of Zimbabwe. It’s unfortunate but very normal because by its very nature politics is a struggle for power and not a beauty contest. The dismal performance of MDC in 2005 saw the party disintegrating with rival factions citing irreconcilable differences. Electoral defeat has to be treated with political astuteness. Political defeat has to avail a golden opportunity for a defeated political party to engage in thorough self-introspection. The problem with opposition players is that they feel that they got less incentives to glue them together as is normally the case in ruling parties. Ruling parties hardly split not because they are united or disciplined but are rather glued together by the benefits of incumbency. In the case of Zimbabwe such benefits of incumbency include farms, mines, company shares and board appointments and jobs in general. The fear to lose the above incentivises the political players in ruling parties to come together and protect their benefits politically.

The just ended by-election in Bikita that was won by ZANU PF is a case in point. Zimpf had high hopes of defeating the ruling party. They also wanted to test the political waters. It was more of a political experiment done for strategic reasons but the impression is that some members failed to take lightly the results of the political experiment hence the scape goating and unwarranted name-calling. It’s important for those unhappy with Bikita West election results to note that the Constituency is historically a Zanu PF constituency and not a swing constituency. Had it been a swing constituency maybe the squabbling could have been justified.

The Interim leader of Zimpf Joyce Mujuru alleges that the ousted members were clandestinely working in cohorts with Zanu pf to derail the people’s project. One wonders whether a mere Interim leader has Executive powers to fire other members willy-nilly. One also wonders if indeed the expelled members were working with ZANU-PF to sabotage Mujuru. It’s probable that they might not have worked with ZANU-PF per se but only wanted to challenge Mujuru’s presidency within the party hence Mujuru’s pre-emptive strike against the so called elders. The truth from time immemorial is always a casualty when there is a conflict. Political squabbles create smokescreens and pretexts for one to manoeuvre his or her way through.

The Tsvangirai factor is also said to be a bone of contention within Zimpf. The impression that the so called Elders (Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo) are anti-coalition with the former Premier’s MDC needs to be interrogated. Do the elders really think they can single-handedly defeat ZANU-PF and form the next government? One also wonders if the Elders are anti-coalition per se or anti-coalition with Morgan Tsvangirai. If the latter is true then the people of Zimbabwe have a long way to go. The monster of politics of personalities is the greatest Achilles heel of Zimbabwean opposition politics and that works in favour of ZANU-PF. The problem is that if the Elders are honestly anti- coalition with Morgan Tsvangirai one then wonders whose interest they are advancing bearing in mind that ZANU-PF invests in intelligence. Mujuru knows ZANU-PF way of doing things and the anti-Tsvangirai stance by the Elders gives credence to suspicions that the Elders might be nicodimously working with ZANU-PF to scuttle to grand coalition schemes currently underway.

Taking into consideration President Mugabe’s confession that Didymus Mutasa once called him and Claudious Makova praise-singing of Robert Mugabe after Zimpf’s Bikita electoral defeat one is tempted to conclude that Mujuru has managed to remove chaff from wheat. It’s a typical case of good riddance. Political splinter groups are always vulnerable to infiltration by the main wing political party. Not all who join the splinter group will be sincere, some will be on a mission. A three D mission, to destroy, dismantle and disrupt.

Only time will tell…