Self-exiled former Cabinet minister and once-celebrated Zanu-PF propagandist Professor Jonathan Moyo has said those who think Vice President Constantino Chiwenga will pull a coup against President Emmerson Mnangagwa are disillusioned.
Moyo told NewsDay that Chiwenga’s return back from China will have no effect at all, and was being exaggerated o social media by those who hoped he would push his boss out of power.
“Chiwenga’s return is being exaggerated beyond the realm of the possible. Those who think he will pull off another military coup are joking. History does not repeat itself, except as a farce. But Mnangagwa and Chiwenga have a common fate: They are presiding over a political party with a history, but with no future,” Moyo said.
Moyo said Zanu-PF was imploding, nevertheless. “I think Zanu PF is imploding. The writing is on the wall that Zanu PF has lost the army or that the army has lost interest in Zanu PF.
“It is also clear that the post-2017 Zanu PF cannot survive without the army. You saw what happened when the army stayed away from Zanu PF’s so-called anti-sanctions march on October 25, 2019, it was an embarrassing disaster as Mnangagwa addressed an empty National Sports Stadium. Only the army can mobilise for Zanu PF.
“Unlike Mugabe, Mnangagwa has no mobilisation capacity whatsoever. He’s not a leader. But of course, Mnangagwa wants to be a leader, apa haana vanhu (yet he has no support).
“But in real politics, a president does not entertain a vice-president who was his kingmaker. Conversely, a kingmaker, who is a vice-president, does not entertain an ungrateful president, who unleashes his allies against his vice-president.
“The problem for Mnangagwa is that he has no base: He no longer has support in Parliament, no support in Zanu PF, save for his clansmen, no support in the army and no support in the business community.
“On the other hand, Chiwenga has a base in the army and he campaigned for the Zanu PF Members of Parliament. But, like Mnangagwa, Chiwenga does not have the popular support of the people.
“In fact, Chiwenga is seen as the mastermind of the electoral theft of the presidential election from which Mnangagwa benefited after losing to MDC leader Nelson Chamisa,” Moyo, a political scientist, said.
Moyo said that “a very popular revolution” is about to happen in Zanu-PF, but insisted that even if Chiwenga was to replace Mnangagwa, “he (Chiwenga) will still be illegitimate.”
“If Chiwenga succeeds Mnangagwa, he will inherit his illegitimacy. Legitimacy cannot be acquired from illegitimacy. A nullity from the beginning is a nullity throughout, up to the end. So, the end game for Zanu-PF is a dead end.
“Popular revolutions are by definition unstoppable. The ground in Zimbabwe has been shifting towards a popular revolution for more than two decades now,” Moyo said.
Asked if he misses home, seeing he has been holed up in exile for over two years now, Moyo said he was instead praying for Zimbabwe because it is on fire.
“… home is best. But I also know that there is more to home than geography. In any event, right now home is on fire. So, rather than missing home, I am praying for it.”
When asked his opinion of President Mnangagwa’s leadership so far, Moyo said: “There’s no leadership to assess. Mnangagwa has never been a leader and he will never be a leader. This is because leadership is about morality. You cannot be a leader when, like Mnangagwa, you have no moral compass, you never speak to the nation on moral issues because you know you are a disaster on that score; and when you have no regard for human life; and you take pride in shortening the lives of your opponents.
“A leader with a moral compass empathises with the people and their everyday struggles; understands their suffering and is committed to fulfilling their aspirations through people-centred policies, which are not declared at Press conferences, boardrooms or in meetings, but are implemented on the ground.
“So, my assessment of Mnangagwa is that he has proven that he has not risen above his historical role as the Gukurahundi chief instigator and enforcer. As a leader, he is clueless. If leadership were to smack him on his face, he would not recognise it. You cannot say you are a leader, apa hauna vanhu!”