Wilbert Mukori | Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs and time and time again when the party felt its hold on power was under threat it came out with all guns blazing, without a care in the world who was watching. Well the world was watching and the world is not going to be fooled by the party bare-faced attempts to portray itself as anything other than a party of ruthless thugs.
No one will be fooled by President Mnangagwa’s advisor, Chris Mutsvangwa’s, pathetic attempts to deny the Zimbabwe National Army is nothing but a department within the political party Zanu PF; there to do the party’s dirty bidding during elections and, like every other section of the party, was caught up in the factional war that has torn the party into shreds in the last three years!
“Contrary to reports that were attributed to me, that the army would ensure an electoral victory for ZanuPF, its a lie,” said Mutsvangwa.
“I said there was a team which helped to undo the dynastic tendencies of Mugabe. Then I promised the president that we would deliver an election victory to him and that specifically excludes the army because the army had played a role in the ascendancy to power of the new president.
“The army is a professional entity which doesn’t get involved in election campaigns and I urge all journalists to report accurately.”
Mutsvangwa was trying to counter his statement at the Zanu PF Special Congress where he said the Army would help deliver an election victory for the party. People like Mutsvangwa have excellent memory, he remembers every detail of the liberation struggle, for example. But, like most other Zanu PF thugs, he also have a very selective memory in that he cannot remember the pivotal role ZNA has played in past Zanu PF’s electoral victories. Former President Mugabe remembered and he thanked the Army generals, the other securocrats and the war veterans for “rescuing him and the party” from electoral defeat in 2008 in operation “Mavhotera papi!” (Whom did you vote for!).
The Zanu PF dictatorship had deployed the Army, Police and CIO in much the same way it deployed the party loyalists war veterans to punish the civilians for daring to reject Mugabe and Zanu PF in the March 2008 vote. Mugabe had lost the vote to Tsvangirai’s staggering 73%. The regime had connived to have the vote reduce to 47% to force a run-off and then use violence to overturn the Tsvangirai’s 73% into an 84% Mugabe victory.
“What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!” Mugabe had boasted, encouraging the violence and thuggery.
The Army and the other securocrats have played a major role helping Mugabe and Zanu PF remain in power but in 2008 they went the extra mile and staged what many agree was a coup to stop Tsvangirai and MDC ruling the country. What Mugabe did not realise at the time was this was not going to be their last coup much less that he himself will be the target of the next coup.
The rogue war veterans under Chris Mutsvangwa and, before him, Jabulani Sibanda have been Zanu PF’s storm troopers who have done the threatening and harassing of voters to ensure the party’s electoral victories. The more systematic harassment, beatings and murderers have been carried out by ZNA, Police and CIO.
The November 2008 coup; “Operation Restore Legacy”, as one of the coup leaders, General Chiwenga, dubbed it; was about restoring State power back in the hands of the Join Operation Command (JOC), a Junta comprising the top brass in the Army, Police and CIO, Mugabe, Mnangagwa and one or two others. Mugabe had tried to handover power to his wife and her G40 faction and hence the need of the coup to force him to resign.
After risking all to restore JOC’s iron grip on power, some of the coup plotters have just secured for themselves cushy position in President Mnangagwa’s administration, it will be naïve of these individuals to then risk losing that power by holding free, fair and credible election. Mutsvangwa can say what he like but the whole world knows that the Army, Police, CIO and the war veterans will be out campaigning for Zanu PF in next year’s elections.
If Zanu PF’s hold on power is threaten as happened in 2008, then the nation can be certain there will be operation “Mavhotera papi!” mark 2! Zanu PF is a party of thugs and they will stop at nothing to make sure the party does not lose power.
“Zanu PF ichatonga! Igotonga!” (Zanu PF will rule! And rule!) as President Mnangagwa has often said.
What he and the rest in the party will be doing is deploy the Army, Police, CIO and the war veterans as before only this time the party must do everything possible to cover the thugs’ tracks.
Of course, Zanu PF is not just relying on the Army and other thugs to deliver election victory, it many other vote rigging activities such as the Chiefs and other traditional leaders who have already received their down payments for their contribution. The 226 Chiefs country wide will each get a new Isuzu twin cab truck and in return they will be expected to carol and herd villagers to vote for the party.
The real challenge for Zanu PF is not so much how to rig next year’s election but rather how to conceal all these vote rigging activities for the party to claim the election was free and fair and get away with it. If the international community, especially SADC, should dismiss the election as a sham, just as they did following the 2008 elections, then Zanu PF rule will come to a crashing end. While in 2008 the regime was given a lifeline by being allowed go into the GNU; the party will be given no such meaningful role this time. The world knows that Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs who cannot be trusted.
“The army is a professional entity,” said Mutsvangwa. Yeah right! Since when has vote rigging and staging coups become the most highly priced relevant experience for soldiers!
4 Replies to ““ZDF Is A Professional Entity,” Says Mutsvangwa, But With A Second To None Vote Rigging And Coup Experience”
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Kutonga kwaro kutonga kwarooo
Only Zanu PF thugs would still insist the Army is a professional entity when the generals have just staged a coup!
Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs alright. All this euphoria following last month’s coup is totally misplace, the thugs were removing one thug leader for another. A black mamba does not seize to be a dangerous snake just because it has shed-off its old skin.
President Mnangagwa was in SA shouting “Zimbabwe is open for business!” He could spend all day and all night shouting, no one would hear him because he has failed to answer the question that drove away business people in the first place. Does Zimbabwe respect the rule of law and is it politically stable? The country is still firmly in the hands of thugs and, as if the underline that point, they have just staged a coup and they pretend that is perfectly lawful!
Ordinary Zimbabweans may be fooled by these Zanu PF thugs but no business person worth his/her salt is so easily fooled. Zimbabwe is not ready for business and until the country can demonstrate its commitment to rule of law, holding free and fair elections, etc. it will not be ready for business. No one wants to do business with thugs because only a fool would trust these thugs – business people are no fools!
Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa, much as I respect him, is getting careless with his public pronouncements. As adviser to the head of state, he should be acutely aware that every statement he makes will be measured by the nation and the world as an arbiter of policies of the office of state. That statement was crude and ill-timed. Firstly it gave the impression of flagrant violation of rules and laws governing electoral processes and also reflected the new government in bad state as an institution that cares little about the values of democracy. His responsibility, if it is easy and exciting, is being carried out wrongly because it should be a daunting engagement to speak with the world and help steer the ship of state through advising the top executive office. If it is easy it is wrong. Secondly, the statement, if he made it, reflects badly on a singularly professional army that dwarfed world expectations in mid-November with its immaculate conduct among the multitudes clamouring for change. Zimbabwe’s army has developed a great reputation with its exploits under the UN mission flag in Somalia and also in lieu of their assistance of stranded allies in the Congo DR, Angola and Mozambique.
The role of the army in any democracy, is to stand guard over the nation and assure its safety and protection from enemies within and outside that nation. It is also to ensure that constitutional mandates are met and that is done by “cautioning” politicians when they indulge in undemocratic excesses. The army did warn Mugabe to stop “immediately” all victimization of excombatants of the war for freedom, and any perceived “Lacoste” faction members in the party and civil service. When that did not seem to be heeded, the army identified with the cries of the masses and moved in to restore the legacy.
I would like however, to point out a comical development in our politics, in which Zimbabwean have taught each other to develop an egg-soft core in dealing with matters political. They cry for peace, fair play, transparency and evenness of playing fields. Politics, to the contrary demands grit, determination, never-say-die attitudes and a certain degree of cunning necessary to out-manouvre your adversaries. It is not a game for weak-kneed ninnies. Too often our citizens cry “unfair”, when they should be devising methods to rise to a vantage point to balance issues to their own advantage. The army, characteristically, is an institution in which extensive orientation takes place. If the government in power is ZANU-PF-run, then the orientation is without doubt going to follow dictates of the party in power, like everywhere in the world. If it changes, the new government would put its own details into the works and redirect the orientation process, just as MDC is expected to do if it comes into power. So to cry foul because the army is ZANU PF, for me, makes it a bit comical, though factual. But I would still need to encourage those in the waiting room of executive power in “opposition” parties (bad label, that, as they are seen by all government arms as being ‘opposed’ to what the arms have been oriented to follow) must find ways of having their ideologies infused into the schemes of current statecraft. As it is, it’s not going to happen, when the same army, manned by people who led the liberation process, see people in the opposition racing to another head of state for “intervention”. These are the same states that gave hammers to Rhodesia to nail leaders of the liberation movement into detention caskets, from which they emerged half-beaten men and women after 10 years of suffering. Politics has long memories. Politicians have short ones. There lies the contradiction. Thugs exist in every party. Parties must prepare themselves using any means necessary to stay afloat. To expect that a man like Munangagwa would come to power, rule for seven months and hand over power in a winner-take-all election would be the biggest fantasy any nation would ever experience. Power must be wrestled from the grip of those who wield it, not negotiated through peace-meal pleas for fairness and transparent “democratic” platitudes. The USA, UK, France and Germany, which are the preferred crucibles of democratic behaviour, amass their armies, target specific nations, drum up plausible pretexts for invasion, and INVADE, take and stay to consolidate their victories. To lead those nations, candidates MUST have a fair knowledge and experience of the defence forces. Our opposition parties are too childishly looking up for “transparency”, “fairness” and “interventions” from the same countries that do not even observe them. The USA and the UK, are NOT, for the record, “democracies.” The USA is a bi-party political system that NEVER allows the formation of opposition parties in its electoral process. The UK, is a MONARCHY, whose head of state is only replaceable by death, as the Queen or King of Great Britain. It’s prime minister is only head of government and belongs by class, to the lower house of commons. Now why do our politicians, our “presidents-in-waiting”, rush to nations like that to seek assistance in a process they are not used to? They run to thugs, to ask for freedom and protection from thugs at home. Something is wrong. Are we creating moanful, weak-kneed politicians or strong ones who can return BRUTE thuggery with organized “democratic” thuggery? Sorry my response is elasticizing itself. But there is so much to say. In summary, opposition parties must stop whining. They must organize and counteract what is being thrown at them if they need to win. They must show the electorate that they have what it takes to lead, and not behave like spineless cowards who run to another father to look after the affairs of their own family; not to paint images in people’s minds of immature politicians who are excited just to pose for pictures with the “world’s most powerful politicians”! They must be homegrown, self-directed, unwavering patriots, astute economists, foxy-leaders who can scare off adversaries, self-reliant punters who derive pleasure from domestic hard work and not external donor bowls of assistance.