Why The Zvigananda Narrative Is Not enough To Fully Capture The True Scale Of Zim’s Crisis!

By Brighton Mutebuka

Zimbabwe is totally knackered. It’s soul & true promise has been hollowed out by ZANU PF’s near half a century ruinous rule.

Amidst the current instalment of a topsy turvy factional power struggle, it’s important to recognise the fact that rampant corruption is not the only ill impacting Zimbabwe’s capacity to realise it’s true potential.

The other acute challenges are: downright incompetence, a lack of skilled manpower, political will, impunity, absence of rule of law and a culture of accountability, a lack of independent state institutions, rampant human rights violations & subversion of democratic norms – especially the repeated failure to run free, fair and credible elections.

The current fixation with the “Zvigananda” narrative is too simplistic & risks skewing the debate & inadvertently downgrading the scale of the crisis & misdiagnosing the antidote needed to stem the tide.

There is no magic wand that can be waved that will magically erase the scale of the moral, social, economic, political and humanitarian decay that has taken hold over the past 5 decades.

This is crucial to highlight at this point in time ahead of the window of opportunity that is likely to emerge from the current conflagration in ZANU PF.

From experience, that window will close shortly after the titanic succession battle is resolved in decisive terms.

Whilst it’s indisputable that grand corruption is currently running rampant under the current regime in Zimbabwe, it’s nevertheless disingenuous to ascribe all current social ills at its door.

The bar must be raised. Accountability must be sought ahead of time. Another false round grand scale deception must be nipped in the round before it takes hold.

A Zimbabwe that works for all must be demanded not now but yesterday. There is no rational reason why the clarion call should wait until succession has been resolved.

It logically follows that if Chiwenga & his team are unwilling to embrace the above stated values & broaden the angle of their pitch & political menu, then we are indisputably confronted with another round of deception.

Chiwenga did not arrive on the political scene yesterday. He has been there from the birth of the Republic.

It’s why I refer to him as an Apex predator. There is no objective evidence of a damascene moment having visited him.

At this moment in time, the most credible explanation for the position that he has taken is to distinguish himself & pivot his message as being opposed to the incumbent as to render him more marketable across the political divide & smoothen his path power – which to be fair, any ambitious politician should do.

His message is powerful but his sincerity is doubted. More should be demanded from him. He has been there as a vital cog in the prosecution of the regime’s worst excesses against defenceless citizens – and has never apologised not taken responsibility, not even once.

He was instrumental in the birth of the so-called Second Republic & in helping it to retain power. He has got long & enduring extensive ties to so many called “Zvigandas,” meaning there are so many “blurred lines.”

As unpopular as this sounds at this moment in time, he has been primarily thrust into this position not necessarily out of principle, but most likely out of the sheer convergence of his political ambition & ED’s dramatic “betrayal.”

The “throne” he seeks to inherit is a tainted one & has been for many years. If he claims to care about Zimbabwe, then he should seek to help it to heal by embracing values which allow it to heal, prosper & return to lasting peace should he succeed.

That would entail bringing all political & civic players of consequence together to work towards achieving a political settlement that would eventually & finally lead to free, fair and credible elections to our land.

If the above approach is not adopted, the greatest danger that Zimbabwe would face would be that, if Chiwenga was to succeed, given his military background & volatile temperament, if he was then to face adversity while in power – say through failing to transform the economy, and a restive population would then agitate against him, there is every risk that he would then respond by unleashing brutality of such a level of severity than many would be compelled to even rue having supported his rise to power – and then go on to accuse him of being a worse dictator than ED.

This is not a speculative point as ZANU PF has repeatedly & spectacularly failed to run the economy competently & to deliver sustained growth & high living standards since independence.

The job to prevent that from happening starts now so that those who are supporting his inexorable march towards toppling ED make it clear to him that the expectations that Zimbabweans have go beyond the narrow “Zvigananda” narrative.

They have suffered enough. They deserve to finally have their day in the sun. If it’s being done in the people’s name, then it should meet the people’s aspirations, hopes & dreams, which have been long deferred using brutality & the “dark arts.”

Conclusion
Is it not a cruel twist of fate & irony that of all people, a nation on its knees deposes all its hopes & dreams for the second time within a decade in another candidate from the establishment who was at the centre of repeatedly dashing them on so many occasions in the past, in defence of not only the incumbent, but the incumbent’s predecessor?

That, ladies & gentlemen, is a bitter pill to swallow – and is as tragic as it is painful. Here is the political circus that has engulfed Zimbabwe in the past 10 years for you to mull.

Robert Mugabe’s ruthless enforcer successfully posed as a victim & reformist before returning to his ways soon after assuming power to inflict yet more years of pain & misery after he was naively embraced by a nation suffering from decades of cumulative emotional, social, physical, political, economic & psychological trauma.

That was despite his evidently chequered history over many decades. Not much was demanded of him on the eve of assuming power blatantly & brazenly unconstitutionally.

Is history about to repeat itself with the same level of rank naivety & gullibility on steroids on display – literally stratospheric levels of it? We will see.

For the record, anyone on a sustained campaign for Chiwenga whose core message is solely & reductively “anti-Zviganandas” is involved in a conspiracy to “hukuwink” the povo for the second time, whether or not they are doing it intentionally or inadvertently.

The message should be “anti-Zviganandas & more!” We want more! We deserve more! We are running out of time to enjoy the fruits of “independence.”

*Brighton Mutebuka is a UK based Zimbabwean lawyer and renowned political commentator