Chiwenga dramatically took direct aim at President Emmerson Mnangagwa on the firing range for the first time in their epic and high-stakes succession battle.
His "arsenal" was in the form of an explosive "dossier" which allegedly incriminated Mnangagwa alleged state capture kingpins.
He allegedly demanded that they be arrested and queried why that had not been done at that point.
According to multiple reports, so shaken was Mnangagwa the allegedly offered to resign – before making a hasty retreat to the Politburo, where he sought to find succour in familiar and less hostile territory.
What Did Chiwenga Seek To Achieve?
He sought to send an unequivocal and powerful message to Mnangagwa that a turning point had now been reached in the succession battle – a measure of last resort tantamount to the severing of their long and enduring umbilical chord, or whatever is left of it.
It was an escalatory gesture of monumental consequence and made its mark on all of Mnangagwa physical and mental realm – which was captured in all its pomp and glory via one of the most abiding images of the succession battle – Mnangagwa turning his head and serenely meeting Chiwenga's ice-cold and stern gaze, blow to blow, in broad daylight and close quarters!
The unmistakable message was that of defiance, fearlessness and readiness to engage in mortal combat.
Metaphors were ditched and replaced with direct, uncompromising, menacing and accusatory prose!
The grand prize Chiwenga was seeking was Mnangagwa capitulation from the 2030 choreographed misadventurism and a return to their oft stated November 2017 power sharing gentlemen's pact.
What Did He Achieve?
Whilst he demonstrably shook Mnangagwa to his boots, he effectively let him off the hook and left him to fight another day, a highly dangerous outcome in a finely balanced and high octane succession battle.
You see, "dossiers" don't deliver power, not in Zimbabwe. They help to shape the narrative. The narrative matters afterwards, not before toppling a "King" from his throne.
Of what use is a "dossier" in an environment in which all state institutions are captured? Who orders the arrest? Who makes the arrest? Who prosecutes? How long does that take? Who convicts?
Who sentences? Who enforces the sentence and superintends the jails? You get the drift. At that very moment, having waited for so long to fire the first salvo, Chiwenga needed to be in a position to fire not just the first one, but all salvos in one fell swoop!
Given the stakes involved, a dossier could only be of use as part of a grand scheme of subterfuge, to probe defences, distract and waylay before delivering the coup de grace!
In those corridors of power, you are talking about Russian Roulette of the highest order. There is rarely the luxury of a second take!”
The real unspoken tragedy here is the greatest casualty of these never ending Zanu PF factional wars is the nation. Ever since the nation’s independence, if not long before it, Zimbabwe’s nationalist leaders have fought each other none-stop over political dominance. As soon as one fight is over another one started.
As soon as Mugabe ousted Joyce Mujuru in 2014, for example, his camp divided into the G40 and Lacoste which he then lost to the latter led by Mnangagwa in the 2017 military coup. The coup solved nothing because the so called “gentlemen’s agreement” that Mnangagwa will hand over power to Chiwenga after serving one term was immediately ignored.
Zimbabwe is a failed state because the nation’s affairs have been ignored for 45 years and counting because the leaders were too busy consolidating their own power base. And since political loyalty is founded on patronage and not something substantive as ideology or merit it is little wonder no one leader has ever slept ease in his/her bed. How can they when every morning one has to lick one’s finger and check the direction of the political wind - misread it and you are out!
“It is cold out there!” confessed Professor Jonathan Moyo when he misread the political wind and was booted out of the party! He knew what he was talking about.
The nation had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC fiends with the trappings of high offices and they, in return, throw all the reforms out of the window.
Chiwenga is just as corrupt, incompetent and tyrannic as his erstwhile partner in the 2008 electoral coup and 2017 military coup, Mnangagwa. Pick one from the other is as meaningless a hare picking a cobra or a black mamba!
As long as Zimbabwe remains a de facto one-party state those factional wars will rage on and the nation sink deeper and deeper into the abyss. One sure way to end the dictatorship will be to stop Chamisa and company conning their brain dead followers participating in the flawed elections only to give Zanu PF legitimacy. That is simpler said than done - how does one reason with the brain dead!
