Mnangagwa will "no level the electoral playing field," says Mugwiji - his Achilles heel P Guramatunhu

Thank you comrade Whitlaw Mugwiji for yet another thoughtful and thought provoking article, “Even with full stomachs, democracy struggle continues”. See News Day opinion section for the full article.

“I have no doubt that Mnangagwa will address our economic challenges but he too, like Deng, will not level the electoral playing field. Even if he wanted, the army has invested a lot in deposing Mugabe, so they will not easily hand over power to the opposition,” you wrote.

“Wabaya gudo nukanwa!” (You have hit the nail on the head!) as one would say in Shona.

People are forgetting that the thugs behind the 14 November, 2017 military coup are the same individual in the shadowy Junta, the Joint Operations Command, comprising Commander Chiwenga and the posse of generals and other security chefs headed by none other than Mnangagwa himself, stage the 2008 coup to stop Tsvangirai and MDC taking over power after Mugabe and Zanu PF was defeated in that year’s March election. It is no exaggeration to say the Junta is the one that had masterminded and executed all the vote rigging, political thuggery and the wholesale looting to raise the billions of dollars to bankroll all those party activities.

Robert Mugabe owed his 37 years in power to JOC.

Mugabe would have enjoyed his life-long ambition to be life-President if he had not threatened to wrestle power from JOC members and hand it over to his wife and her G40 friends. The coup, nicknamed Operation Restore Legacy, was about restoring absolute tyrannical power back into the hands of JOC members.

After a life-time of corruption, rigging elections, political thuggery and staging coups to make sure that all political power remains in the hands of JOC members, it is therefore unthinkable that they would risk losing it by conceding to the holding of free, fair and credible elections.

 “They (coup plotters) will not easily hand over power to the opposition,” you said. I would venture to say, they will never ever hand over power to the opposition. Never ever!

“Zanu PF ichatonga! Igotonga! Igotonga!” (Zanu PF will rule! And rule! And rule!) was the first President Mnangagwa told his fellow Zanu PF coup plotters and hardliners on his return from SA after the coup. He has since rewarded his coup plotters and fellow Junta members by appointing them into powerful and influential positions. They are clearly enjoying their new found powers and flexing their political muscles as VP, Minister or whatever.

Can you imagine P Shiri or C Chiwenga being told he his lost his contested seat in the upcoming elections and the two gentlemen walking quietly into the sunset! I cannot image that.

However much many people were genuinely pleased to see the back of Robert Mugabe the fact of the matter is the coup that forced him out was illegal. To make matters worse for President Mnangagwa and his coup plotters, the coup was just one out of the string of the many illegal acts they have masterminded and executed in the last 37 years all for selfish political gain. The coup was just the latest such treasonous act and, again, for selfish political gain.

One of the main causes of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is that the international community, funders and would-be foreign investors were shying away from Zimbabwe because it was being seen as a lawless nation ruled by thugs. Removing Mugabe, the tyrant was a positive development but removing him in a coup was the inauspicious start the regime did not want.

Yes, the regime will gain the lost legitimacy if it can hold free, fair and credible elections and now it turns out it cannot do that either because the coup plotters, who are having a real taste of absolute political power, will not risk losing it in a free and fair election.

“Rest assured that Mnangagwa’s eye is on the economy, but never forget that his other eye is on power retention. For this new administration, everything else is secondary to these two primary objectives,” continued Mugwiji.

“Our struggle for democracy continues unabated. Hopefully in this new era, we will conduct it on full stomachs.”

You are wrong there my friend, we will not be demanding democratic reforms with full stomachs!  Whatever economic recovery President Mugabe achieves it will not go beyond the artificial glass-celling set by his regime’s failure to hold free and fair elections, proof that Zanu PF is still a party of lawless thugs. No one is keen to do business in a country ruled by with lawless thugs, we know this already; it is just too risky!  

President Mnangagwa regime’s political and economic success or failure will depend on whether or not it can accomplish the impossible act of eating its cake and keeping it; it can hold free elections to shake-off its lawless thugs tag earned from their Mugabe days and still hang on to absolute power. The failure to hold free and fair elections is the regime Achilles heel!