CCC MPs endorse CAB3 for "strengthening democracy". Alas! Many Zimbabweans still expect CCC to deliver democracy. W Mukori

 40 CCC MPs Endorse CAB3 at Harare Caucus Meeting.

In a development many are describing as a sign of growing political maturity in Zimbabwe, around 40 CCC MPs yesterday reportedly held a caucus meeting at Holiday Inn Harare where they unanimously endorsed Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 (CAB3). The meeting was chaired by lawyer and Hatcliffe Constituency MP, Hon. Agency Gumbo.

According to reports, the legislators vowed to support the Bill in Parliament, describing CAB3 as an important legislative and governance framework that strengthens democracy, stability and institutional development in Zimbabwe.

The development signals a shift towards issue-based politics where national interests are increasingly taking precedence over partisan divisions. Political observers say the willingness by opposition MPs to support a Government-backed constitutional process demonstrates democratic maturity and constructive engagement within Zimbabwe’s political landscape.

CAB3 an “important legislative and governance framework that strengthens democracy, stability and institutional development in Zimbabwe,” these opposition MPs are just saying exactly what Mnangagwa would want them to say! All the pretences that MDC/CCC leaders are fighting for democratic changes to dismantle the Zanu pF dictatorship have all gone. 

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train good-life; they will never rock the boat!” boasted Zanu PF cronies during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when they were asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the democratic reforms! Many people did not want to believe the opposition had sold out even when they could not name even one token reform implemented during the GNU. 

The MDC leaders participated in the flawed 2013 elections ignoring SADC leaders’ June 2013 Summit warning them not to do so until reforms were implemented. MDC leaders like Tendai Biti and David Coltart acknowledged it was foolish participating in flawed 2013 elections and yet they still participated out of greed as Coltart admitted. 

 “The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious - withdraw from the (2013) elections. The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility,” confessed David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

MDC/CCC leaders have participated in flawed and illegal elections ever since the GNU debacle for the same reasons - greed and breathtaking incompetence. 

Still many Zimbabweans have refused to accept the the MDC/CCC leaders were no longer fighting for democratic changes and continues to follow them blindly. Leaders like Chamisa conned them to participate in flawed elections on the basis of idiotic lies of the opposition winning the elections because he plugged all the vote rigging loop holes. 

As soon as the election results come out, Chamisa & co. have complained that Zanu PF rigged the elections - the very thing the people were promised would not happen. The big surprise is that millions were conned again and again to participate on the basis of yet another idiotic lie! 

 Chamisa acknowledges SADC and AU condemnation of Zimbabwe's 2023 elections as flawed and illegal but will not accept that his insistence on participating in the flawed process has consequences! He wants to keep his cake and eat it too and has the childish impudence to cry and blame it on SADC for failing to punish Zanu PF for the rigged elections. What an idiot! 

 As much as SADC and AU election observers condemned 2023 elections as flawed and illegal they could not deny Zanu PF legitimacy because millions of Zimbabweans were conned to participated in the flawed elections. They believed the opposition would win the rigged elections. Who told them that? You! Chamisa! 

The idea that participating in flawed elections against repeated advice does not have no consequences is idiotic, to say the least. As much as both SADC and AU election observers condemned the 2023 election process as flawed and illegal they would not deny Zanu PF legitimacy because millions of Zimbabweans participated regardless. That the millions were conned is not SADC and AU is doing! 

CAB3 is consolidating the Zanu PF dictatorial powers, the powers MDC/CCC leaders were elected to dismantle these last 26 years and have failed to do so. And now these leaders have the audacity to support CAB3 and tell us this will strengthen democracy! The tragedy for Zimbabwe is that many will believe and still continue to follow these MDC/CCC sell-outs! 

Zimbabwe is a failed state. It is tempting to blame Zanu PF thugs and their surrogate MDC/CCC sell-out for dragging the nation into this mess. But after 46 years of the nation being dragged deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth we have to ask why has Zimbabweans themselves allowed this nightmare to continue? After all it is the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves who are at the coal face of the tragic human suffering and deaths, the consequences of the failed state!

Like it or not Zanu PF cronies were right “Mazivanhu eMDC/CCC akadzidza kare kudya anyerere!” many Zimbabweans have refused to acknowledge this at the nation’s peril. MDC/CCC will never ever deliver change no more than Zanu PF thugs reforming themselves out of power. 

So if Zimbabweans are serious about democratic change and finally ending the double curse of rigged elections and failed state, ordinary Zimbabweans must accept the reality that Zanu PF nor MDC/CCC will ever deliver the change. They must look somewhere else for that change!

Zimbabwe is NOT a healthy and functioning democracy, never was. Zanu PF has usurped the people’s freedoms and rights to create a de facto one party dictatorship. If Zimbabweans want to end the dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system of government then they must fight Zanu PF and its surrogate MDC/CCC sell-outs who are now Zanu PF team B in all but name - fighting for team A to win and to have legitimacy. 

Millions of Zimbabweans have been conned to do stupid things because they believed leaders are demigods. W Mukori

Religion has become the opium of the people. Mnangagwa drafted CAB3 for his own selfish political gratification. Ordinary Zimbabweans have everything to lose from Mnangagwa and the regime extending their stay in office and entrenching their dictatorial powers. The people have never had a say in Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies ruling the country; they rigged elections for Pete’s sake. 

How anyone can still believe that God Almighty would have anything to do with an illegitimate regime flexing its dictatorial powers beggars belief! And yet there are many out there who believe this bulls***t! 

Zanu PF has its own brain-dead followers just as MDC/CCC has its own Chamisa chete chete brigade. Chamisa had no problem getting millions to believe his idiotic lies of plugging all Zanu PF vote rigging loop holes to con them to participate in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the nation’s suffering. 

The brain-dead are hard wired to believe leaders are demigods who can do no wrong. In Zimbabwe the brain-dead number in their millions, a curse to the nation because the ignorant, naive and gullible brain-dead have a voice and the vote and are holding the nation to ransom.  

Chiwenga illusion rebuttal Chibvupe

 My take

This is a sophisticated and forcefully argued political thesis. As a piece of political writing, it is powerful because it combines historical framing, institutional analysis, emotional urgency, and rhetorical discipline. It is clearly written by someone who understands both Zimbabwean political psychology and the mechanics of power.

A few key observations:

1. The central argument is coherent and consistent

The thesis is built around one core proposition:

Chiwenga is not an agent of democratic transition but a continuation of the same power system in militarised form.

Everything else in the essay supports that point. The author avoids wandering into unrelated attacks or emotional diversions. Structurally, that gives the piece strength.

The most persuasive sections are:

The explanation of why Chiwenga moved from military to political office.

The argument that 2017 was system protection, not democratic correction.

The GNU comparison regarding Tendai Biti.

The “Octavian not republican saviour” analogy.

Those sections are strategically important because they attack the logic of supporting Chiwenga rather than merely attacking his personality.

2. The Roman analogy is intellectually strong

The Octavian comparison is probably the sharpest analytical section.

The author’s point is essentially:

elites believe they are using a strongman to stabilise the republic,

but the strongman uses the instability to institutionalise permanent power.

That analogy works rhetorically because it elevates the argument beyond ordinary Zimbabwean factional politics into a broader theory of how republics collapse into managed authoritarianism.

Whether one agrees fully or not, it is intellectually sophisticated.

3. The piece understands elite fatigue very well

One of the strongest psychological insights is this line of reasoning:

“exhaustion, desperation, and the intoxicating smell of proximity to power are distorting the analysis…”

That is politically sharp because it suggests respected intellectuals are not necessarily compromised by stupidity or corruption, but by fatigue and strategic desperation.

That framing is more effective than simply calling them sellouts.

4. The thesis is strongest when discussing systems, weakest when predicting certainty

Where the piece becomes less rigorous is in its certainty.

For example:

“He will not become a democrat.”

“He will not share power genuinely.”

“The distraction is not accidental.”

These may be reasonable conclusions, but the author states them as certainties rather than probabilities. A political analyst would normally distinguish between:

evidence,

interpretation,

prediction.

The essay sometimes merges all three into absolute declarations.

That weakens it slightly analytically, even though it strengthens it rhetorically.

5. The author is deliberately trying to redirect opposition psychology

This is important.

The essay is not merely analysing Chiwenga. It is trying to discipline opposition thinking.

The repeated message is:

stop waiting for elite splits,

stop hoping for internal rescue,

build independent grassroots power.

That is the true strategic objective of the thesis.

In many ways, the document is less about Chiwenga than about opposition dependency on elite fractures inside ZANU-PF.

6. The CAB 3 section is politically important

The author argues that constitutional restructuring matters more than succession drama.

That is strategically serious because constitutions outlive personalities.

The thesis is basically saying:

while everyone watches personalities,

structural legal entrenchment is happening underneath.

That is historically how long-term dominant systems survive.

7. Stylistically, it is very effective

The writing style borrows from:

political manifesto writing,

academic thesis structure,

liberation movement rhetoric,

modern policy essay language.

The repetition of:

“The system that produced…”

at the end is classic rhetorical cadence designed to produce emotional momentum.

The essay also uses short declarative sentences effectively after longer analytical paragraphs. That creates impact.

8. Potential criticism opponents would make

Critics of the thesis would likely argue:

it underestimates the importance of factional splits in authoritarian systems,

it ignores that transitions sometimes emerge from internal fractures,

it presents grassroots mobilisation as more achievable than history suggests,

it risks political purity at the expense of practical opportunity.

A realist strategist might say:

“You do not choose the conditions of transition; you exploit contradictions wherever they appear.”

That would be the main counterargument.

Final assessment

As political writing, this is:

intellectually serious,

strategically focused,

rhetorically powerful,

emotionally disciplined,

and clearly aimed at shaping elite opposition thinking.

Its strongest contribution is not the attack on Chiwenga personally, but the warning against confusing:

elite conflict with

democratic transition.

That distinction is the real heart of the thesis.....copied.

 

*****

This is really powerful and thought provoking. I really believe we are now on the right track in our search for a way out of this hell-on-earth that the Zanu PF thugs and MDC/CCC sellouts have landed us into. 

I have a number of points in rely:

“Chiwenga is not an agent of democratic transition but a continuation of the same power system in militarised form,” you said. 

I believe the power and influence of the Army, Police, CIO and War veterans has been misunderstood by many people. Zanu PF leaders have brainwashed the lot into doing the leaders’ dirty work of imposing the de facto one party state. 

The pattern is there for all to see - Zanu PF had no choice but to rig elections to stay in power and the regime has deployed the Army, etc. whenever its iron grip on power was threatened. As soon as the elections are over, top brass in the Army, Police, etc. were reward with the share of the spoils of power whilst those below were ignore, discarded like used toilet tissue. 

When Commander Vitalis Musungwa Gava Zvinavashe (27 September 1943 – 10 March 2009) gave the now infamous “Army will not salute anyone with no liberation war credentials” on the eve of the 2008 elections surrounded top brass from the Army, Police and CIO. The obvious message was that he and his fellow officers were propping up Zanu PF. “The office of president is a straitjacket!” he said.

The truth is he and his fellow officers were the ones wearing straitjackets with the head of Mugabe! Of course Zvinavashe was reading a press statement approved if not written for him by George Charamba or some such individual. 

Mugabe and his G40 faction were planning a far reaching “spring cleaning” in the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services; many of the liberation war officers were going to be retired. A law to lower the retirement age in these security services sectors was in the pipe line. 

The 2017 military coup plotters dubbed the coup “Operation Restore Legacy”  for a good reason. They meant “Operation Save Your Head” because their head were on the chopping block. Many of the coup plotters opted for political office because there was where the real power resided. 

“The explanation of why Chiwenga moved from military to political office.

The argument that 2017 was system protection, not democratic correction.”you said. 

Chiwenga, Prence Shiri, Sibusiso Moyo and all the other senior Army officers who gave up their Army post for political office failed to consolidate their political power and thus were out manoeuvred by Mnangagwa. Chiwenga had strong allies in the administration of November 2017 to July 2018 elections. He lost allies in the post 2018 election administration, his allies like Rugeje in the party were replaced, his allies in the Army were appointed ambassadors, then there are the promotions and deaths in the Army, etc. 

Chiwenga has haemorrhaged allies he is not a political threat to Mnangagwa! Mnangagwa has reneged on the promise to step aside after serving one term and now he is seeking to change the constitution so he can serve beyond the maximum two-5 year term limits. Poor Chiwenga has sat there wringing his hands in sheer frustration! 

When the late Blessed “Bombshell” Geza dismissed the ED2030 as “bullshit” and “tired of being used like a political condom” he was speaking the bottled frustration of many war veterans still in the Army and other State institutions and those laid off. The picture of a Mnangagwa official, wearing the trade mark scarf, arriving in a helicopter and handing two war veterans, one with one leg bicycles will go down the annals of history - proof of the political condom arrogance. 

MDC/CCC leaders failed to implement even one token reform in 26 years and have been participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy because they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent. A few MDC/CCC leaders like Coltart have admitted it. 

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious - withdraw from the (2013) elections. The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility,” confessed David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

I agree with you that the way forward is “stopping waiting for elite splits and 

stop hoping for internal rescue.” What I do not agree with is “building  independent grassroots power.”  Independent from what? The Chamisa chete chete brigade? 

As long as we have millions of these brain-dead individuals who can be conned to participate in flawed elections, so flawed the result is predetermined and participating only gives Zanu PF legitimacy, because they believed an idiotic lie; there will be no meaningful change in Zimbabwe. The challenge is to educate the ignorant, naive and gullible Chamisa chete chete brigade members and their equally brain dead Zanu PF counter parts. 

There will be no “independent” electorate to work with. If we cannot educate what we have then we are doomed as a nation! 

There are some hard-core Zanu PF and MDC/CCC supporters whose brains have ossified into fat reason cannot reach them. They are beyond the pale! Still there are many who have not been as zealous and blind in the support of leaders as they were in the past - a pilot LED lighting up!