By Tererayi Rushwaya| We can express our dismay at Zanu’s corruption for days on end, and we can complain about the rises in commodity prices and shortage thereof; we can snigger at Zanu stooges like that Lumumba chap when they find themselves being reprimanded by the Zanu system; we can pour scorn at Patrick for being that bald headed moron who took pride in grand opening a bin; we can ridicule the general’s vanity to use skin lightening cream or the scarf wearer for…the scarf; but all this is idle chatter since the country is continually rotting. For people who want to see real political and economic progressive change in Zimbabwe there seems to be two ways of turning that into reality: a public revolt or a progressive coup d’état.

Public Revolt?

A civil uprising is labour intensive and is not for the faint hearted as it requires the public to go against the whole entire Zanu system which has a trigger happy army that will not hesitate to let off at the public. It strikes right at the heart of the average Zimbabwean’s weaknesses. A civil uprising requires unity and effective coordination amongst the public. But unity and coordination are two things which are notoriously and historically lacking within the Zimbabwean masses. For the civil uprising to succeed they would have to be country wide, every major town and city would need to be flooded with protesters demanding this government to bugger off; Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe, Masvingo, Mutare, Chitungwiza, Marondera, Norton. The more I list these towns the more I realise just how impossible a civil uprising in Zimbabwe is. Then there is the issue of fear which to be fair is the number one impediment. People are scared, we all are scared of this Zanu juggernaut, we have seen it in action, it is brutal. Moreover, it is not easy to provide an argument for the benefits of a civil uprising to a highly literate person who probably has one or two degrees under their belt to put everything aside and protest and risk their own life for the good of everyone. Mass educated people tend to be individualistic in their approach to problem solving.

Progressive coup d’état

This therefore leaves us with the option of a progressive coup de tat. The premise of this would be that a younger group (possibly born frees) within the military who have progressive political views and who are fed up with the corruption and cruelty of the old generation would rise up and remove the old dossiers at the top and then do a deal with the MDC (preferably do the deal before the progressive coup). Some argue that this could result in an all out war, while others believe that so long as the half a dozen old men who control the military and Zanu are arrested, the rest of the turncoats will fall in line. After all there were Zanu top officials who were publicly heaping opprobrium on the scarf wearer when he was being dressed down by the then first lady only to heap praises on him after the coup.

What about the war veterans?

Well, the war vets too have several turncoats in their membership. Nonetheless, the young coup leaders and the MDC would need to put out a statement to the war vets that they need not worry about their welfare since the new administration will continue recognising their heroic efforts during the liberation war.

What happens after this progressive coup d’état?

I believe a new constitution would need to be drafted which brings serious change to the way Zimbabwe is governed. I believe that for a generation or so, Zimbabwe should not be governed by a single party but by a coalition government. No single political party should be entrusted with a big task of turning around an economy in rigor mortis such as ours. Moreover, Zimbabwe ought to have a prime minister who is leader of government. The position of president should be removed.

What about the military’s role after this coup?

The army would be converted into a civilian army and a recruitment drive for maybe 20 000 young people would need to be carried out. The old army personnel will be given retrenchment packages or take civilian roles such as in infrastructure building and maintenance or other public services. In my upcoming book I will go into a lot more detail about this notion of a progressive coup.