By Brighton Mutebuka
a. If it is now accepted that ED has been pursuing an agenda to extend his term or stay in office til or beyond 2030, then it has to be accepted that this was already in motion way before August 2023.
b. If that proposal/ theory is accepted, then it has to be equally accepted that he had to be officially declared the winner at all costs in that election for, without being declared as such, the 2030 agenda could not conceivably materialise in future.
c. It then follows that the election inevitably became a means to an end, a sham by design. It also means that Nelson Chamisa & other internal ZANU PF elements had to be thwarted at all costs – that is, regardless of any claimed oversights they might have made.
d. This can only be surmised if an overarching analysis of the whole political framework in the lead up to the elections is carried out.
e. Political machinations in ZANU PF & the deep state were thwarted via FAZ & many shadowy 4ED parallel structures – as well as a willing tool in ZEC Chair Chigumba.
f. The 1st showdown involved the showdown over the extension of Malaba’s term of office. That ensured that any future electoral disputes would be decided by him.
g. In the end, the critical battle was over
@Hon_Kasukuwere’s participation as a presidential candidate which threatened to split the ZANU PF vote. Predictably, he was barred.
h. In relation to the sham election itself, various shenanigans were deployed – manipulating electoral boundaries, deploying FAZ & squeezing hundreds of thousands of voters out of the process through delaying the delivery of ballot papers in opposition strongholds – all guaranteed by Chigumba’s hear & see no evil approach.
i. In addition to this, any hope of the election being subjected to independent scrutiny through parallel tabulation was crushed through the arbitrary & unlawful arrests of members of the only 2 NGOs capable of carrying out the enormous task – combined with the confiscation of their various gadgets.
j. The final master stroke involved FAZ activating Tshabangu to decimate CCC while weaponising & scapegoating the purported absence of a Constitution & structures as being the basis upon which the dastardly deed had been made possible.
k. The path was also cleared for Tshabangu to lean heavily on ED’s personal lawyer to conveniently win all litigation on the saga in the courts.
l. That plan also served the purpose of delegitimising Chamisa & destroying CCC at a key stage in the electoral dispute – leaving the path clear for ED to pursue his 2030 grand plans.
m. One of the few dead give aways of ED’s devious Tshabangu strategy is the Mabvuku Constituency saga – where you saw ED’s purported political opponent inexplicably paved the way for Scott, ED’s man to enter Parliament literally uncontested!
n. With Chamisa rendered out of commission, ED moved to focus on internal ZANU PF opponents, particularly the Chiwenga faction.
p. This is where we currently are in this long running series grounded in political intrigue of the highest level.
q. At the moment, using his immense deep state tentacles, Chiwenga has momentarily managed to punch a hole on ED’s 2030 political spaceship.
r. We are currently in the throes of an interregnum, a temporary lull in proceedings. Vakuru vari kutura mafemo before the epic gladiatorial contest commences!
Conclusion
To ED’s credit, his political master plan was so well crafted that there are only a few discerning political observers who have been able to keep up with it. Indeed, many are only starting to catch up with him now.
Along the way, ED & his acolytes, some sponsored to infiltrate the opposition – have managed to distract, divert attention, delegitimise, divide & demoralise the opposition to the point where Nelson Chamisa was forced to disembark & regroup – buying ED much needed political bandwidth to focus solely on Chiwenga’s faction during that period, when, had he not done this, he would have been forced to fight on two fronts at the same time!
Many don’t realise that it’s ED who forced Chamisa to resort to Strategic Ambiguity via the earlier Mwonzora & Khupe co-option campaigns & then used propaganda to portray Chamisa’s defensive & pre-emptive manoeuvre as an outrightly dictatorial one!
*Brighton Mutebuka is a lawyer and political analyst based in the United Kingdom
