By Tererayi Rushwaya|The scarf wearer has been behaving a little more jittery than usual lately. For me the notion that there is an impending coup in Zimbabwe grew legs when I heard that notorious audio in which Mnangagwa’s wife was giving ear aggro to some spook from the military over the phone. In this audio, sandwiched between bursts of incomprehensible ranting by the ‘first lady’, she did accuse the guy on the other side of the line that he was part of a cabal in the military that wants to remove her husband from power. I had reservations about the audio, actually I still do.

Anyway, later on someone on twitter pointed out that Mnangagwa was wearing what looks like a bulletproof vest at some engagement. Then at the Heroes Acre event, his security was more amped up than ever before, there were drones flying over the stadium and his bodyguards were ominously carrying massive cases. I don’t know about you, but those big cases certainly weren’t housing his spare scarfs; those were cases for machine guns. Now why the hell would bodyguards of the ‘president’ carry machine guns at an event in Harare where there are hundreds of soldiers? Who would take a shot at him? Certainly not the supine crowds who attend these ghastly events; certainly not the general Zimbabwean public who hold zero threat on the president’s life. The only people who have the guts and tools to have a pop at Mnangagwa’s are the people in uniform. Which is why I think all this extra vigilance, that mad woman on the audio, demonstrate that there is distrust between the scarf wearer and a group in the army, not only that but there is probably a coup in the works.

Is this why Mnangagwa banned the demo on the 16th?
Possibly. The spectacle of disgruntled crowds in the streets would give any coup plotters the perfect opportunity to make a move on Mnangagwa and this is probably why he is hell bent on stopping these demos especially in the capital city. This maybe a case of another cornered goblin trying to manoeuvre himself out of a coup. Therefore, I expect any scheduled demos to be cancelled by the ‘police’ coupled with a crackdown on organisers and MDC leadership which had already started with the arrest of Tabitha Khumalo and others.

Sadly, the alternative view is not as elaborate. Thwarting demos, beating up civilians and a dictator cranking up his security is part and parcel of a military dictatorship. We have seen it often enough, it has become worse because this time it is Satan himself on the throne not his puppet demon.

Those who read my blog will know that I believe that the only way to remove this military junta is via a progressive coup that is supported by the opposition and public. I know some people will say isn’t this what happened in November 2017? The answer is a big NO. There was nothing progress about that coup, it was a regressive coup, the opposite of progressive. Why so? Because it was a coup that resulted in the ascension of Satan himself. People forgot that this is the man who has been at the centre of every government scandal, corruption and citizen repression since 1980 – a ruthless man, Mugabe’s chief henchman.

What I mean by progressive coup is that the people who remove the junta would be closer in ideology with the MDC or democracy and functionality; they would be people in the army fed up with the corruption and repression of citizens. I know it’s a tough one to imagine. Anyway, after this progressive coup there would be the creation of a transitional government which has the MDC right at the centre, while a new constitution is drafted which removes the position of President replacing it with Prime Minister and radical changes in the way the army and police are commanded, with a new republic army being created. Most importantly the provision that the government of Zimbabwe is run forthwith by a coalition not by a single majority party for the next 25 years so that the country focuses on recovery. I explain this in a lot more detail in my upcoming book.