A democratic Zanu PF dictatorship, even one led by Mnangagwa, is an oxymoron Wilbert Mukori

Mugabe has always managed to twist his Zanu PF cronies and thugs round his little finger at will. Hence the reason he has stayed in power all these last 37 years, regardless of his track record as a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical leader, and came within a cat’s whisker of outwitting them all again to impose his wife as his successor. It was the firing of former VP Mnangagwa and was moving in to purge Lacoste faction supporters that gave fired the General Chiwenga and his posse of security top brass to stage the coup. They knew that if they failed to act, they too would be purged out of their posts in the Army and, more significantly, lose their position on the feeding trough!

Even with Mugabe under house arrest, the tyrant continues to give his Zanu PF cronies and thugs alike the run-around!

“A Zanu-PF minister on Sunday reportedly told a UK publication that the frail 93-year-old current president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has gone on hunger strike,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“According to UK Daily Mail, Mugabe has not accepted any food since Saturday.

“Patrick Zhuwao on Saturday told another UK newspaper that his uncle, Mugabe, was 'willing to die for what is correct'.

"The old man has been trying a lot of various tricks since last night," the minister, who asked not to be named, told the publication. "Hunger strikes, making threats and refusing to talk."

Mugabe a two hour speech, which everyone expected him to say “I resign!” He did not say so. Indeed, he said he will preside over the coming Zanu PF congress in a few weeks.

What a circus! Even with Mugabe under house arrest, he is clearly holding the thick end of the whip and his clowns are running around like headless chickens!

When the coup plotters asked Mugabe to resign and he said no; they should have anticipated that and moved swiftly to plan B – impeach him or go for the jugular vein, try him for treason. They did not have plan B and hence all this confusion!

All this hoo-hah of Zanu PF provinces passing no-confidence vote in Mugabe as party leaders and the party’s big wigs meeting to formerly strip the tyrant of his position as the leader of the party are all a waste of time. It is his removal as president of Zimbabwe that is important and urgent here – what Zanu PF decides to do with the dethroned Mugabe is of no consequence.

The firing of Mnangagwa by Mugabe and the military coup response are all internal Zanu PF factional war matters of no consequence to the ordinary Zimbabwean. In this factional war, the people should have known that their position, as the victims of the corrupt and oppressive Zanu PF dictatorship these last 37 years, will not change regardless which faction wins. What does it matter to the goat which hyena wins the fight if its fate is to be slaughter to celebrate the victory.

By joining the Lacoste victory parade yesterday and all this chatter on the social media praising the coup plotter, the people are, per se, indorsing the coup as their own, not just a Lacoste faction victory. Of course, that is a foolish move, because the coup will remove Mugabe and a few of his G40 friends including his wife Grace; heap all the blame for all the regime’s evils, lootings, murders, etc. on them and throw them overboard. They have already appointed Mnangagwa as Mugabe’s successor, as expected. He will then appoint his own team and present themselves to the nation as the squeaky-clean Zanu PF.

The truth is nothing has really change, the corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF has traded one dictator, R G Mugabe, for another, E D Mnangagwa, the outgoing dictator’s chief enforcer. Most of the people responsible for looting, vote rigging and political reign of terror and murders are still in their posts and the Zanu PF dictatorship structures and institutions have not been dismantled. Those who embrace Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF as a democratic party that will implement the democratic reforms, allowed free, fair and credible elections, etc. are just naïve and gullible.

The firing of Mnangagwa and the coup are the final blows in the Zanu PF factional war. Mnangagwa and his cronies have emerged the victors but, make no mistake they have taken a hammering in the process. No one can ever deny that the coup itself is illegal and unconstitutional, for example. Right now, Mnangagwa and his cronies will licking their wounds, Lacoste faction is at its weakest, this is the time the ordinary Zimbabweans should be making their demands.

People should refuse to accept that a Mnangagwa led Zanu PF is anything else other than the same old corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF with a new dictator. The people must demand the implementation of the raft of democratic reforms agreed in 2008 Global Political Agreement as a pre-requisite for holding the next elections.

Mnangagwa is a corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant in his own right. He can serve as president the remainder of Mugabe’s presidential term and then the elections must go ahead as normal. He must not be allowed to extend his stay in office under the pretext of forming a Government of National Unity or some such excuse. His firing and the coup are all internal Zanu PF matters, there is no reason why national elections should be postponed just because Zanu PF members have been fighting each other.

Mnangagwa must not be allowed time and space to settle down and reorganise Zanu PF.

If Mnangagwa is unable to hold next year’s elections, them he must say so and resign. The nation, with the assistance of SADC, UN, etc. can then decide what to do next. If next year’s elections go ahead and they are judged a sham; there is no way the regime will produced verified voters’ roll in the remaining time frame, for example; the nation will again step in and decide what to do.

What Mnangagwa must understand here and now, is that the military coup that finally disposed of Mugabe and his ambition to create a Mugabe dynasty was a Lacoste victory that has done nothing to end the corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. He can serve the remaining 8 months Mugabe’s term; he can even invite any opposition partners to join him, if he so wished. But what he cannot do is postpone the elections to extend his stay in power by even one day.

Anyone who thought Zanu PF would ever change had a wake-up call from Mugabe’s refusal to resign. A leopard does not change its spots, it is futile to imagine a democratic Zanu PF dictatorship it is an oxymoron!