Zimbabwe's winds of change are blowing once more

Written by Gerald Mashiri

"They were working with us and we believed they were comrades and were standing by their leader. We did not know that they were standing with him during the day and at night they were working with the Americans and the British - what a shame. They can never be leaders of Zimbabwe - they are traitors and all Zimbabweans see them like that. They are abandoning their leader for 30 pieces of silver."

So says Didymus Mutasa, minister of state security, and of lands (Land Reform and Resettlement), when asked for his reaction to one of the Zimbabwean government's trusted generals abandoning President Robert Mugabe's bandwagon. Former Home Affairs minister and Politiburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, has defected to Simba Makoni's side. Another ally came in the form of former speaker of parliament, Cyril Ndebele. Mutasa said Mugabe was a charismatic leader loved by the people, adding that Dabengwa and Makoni were also to blame for the problems the country was facing. In not so many words, Mutasa admitted that the ruling party was to blame for collapse of the once great nation.

It has become such a cliché that anyone opposing Mugabe is an agent of the west. Zanu PF has found this to be a comfortable punch line, while desisting from addressing real issues affecting the people. Cracks appear to be turning into crevices within the ruling party.

Sitting in the doldrums of economic and political shambles, Zimbabweans have surrendered themselves to the fate of the upcoming elections. Anything short of an overwhelming Mugabe defeat spells continuing trauma for a population starved of good times. New ideas are needed to bring investors back into the economy and the current regime is only interested in preventing future judgement of their past crimes.

This kind of reaction was to be expected and it is hoped that Zimbabweans will vote a preferance to ignore such nonsensical views, take change into their own hands and vote for a leader they view most likely to guarantee them a future.

Ministry of Information and Publicity Permanent Secretary, George Charamba said, "What is Dabengwa worth by way of supporters? He brought none to Zanu-PF, he takes none to the independent. The people of Nkulumane (Dabengwa's former constituency) had long rejected him anyway." One only wonders why the ruling party is accommodating dead wood within its ranks, let alone their supreme decision making body. Even more interesting is Charamba's comment that Dabengwa has been rejected by the people of his constituency. Most Politburo and high ranking members, particularly those from Harare and Bulawayo, lost their seats in Parliament. It is mind boggling how Zanu-PF view these veterans in terms of value.

Makoni has disturbed the political status quo in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF is clearly shaken by his challenge. This is shown by their main campaign strategy which is to decampaign Makoni.

Of late, Zanu PF has resorted to discrediting Makoni as an unfit candidate, flighting campaign adverts attacking Makoni's credentials, devoting full newspaper pages and banners, all but forgetting about their one time public enemy number one, Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe on the other hand, has resorted to one of his favourite and sometimes feared tools of badmouthing: comparing Makoni to a "prostitute." He said "A prostitute could have done better than Makoni because she has clients."

The Makoni camp has refused to be drawn into this war of words, Makoni said his campaign would not dwell on "trivialities" such as discussing personalities and insults but would articulate plans to "help Zimbabweans" out of their economic problems. Dabengwa threw his own punch at Mugabe and said they would not respond to the "insults" because it would be disrespectful to "answer back an old man".

Many political heavyweights in the ruling party are rumoured to be supporting Makoni, but their support will do him and the nation no good if given behind closed doors. There is still enough time for them to come out publicly and influence the outcome of the election, rather than be too concerned about their political future which is not guaranteed either way.

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