Zanu PF bigwigs, beware the Ides of March

Source: Zanu PF bigwigs, beware the Ides of March – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 24, 2017

WHAT goes around comes around aptly describes what is happening to First Lady Grace Mugabe’s women’s league deputy and Bulawayo Metropolitan minister Eunice Sandi-Moyo and treasurer Sarah Mahoka as Grace has twisted the sharp-edged knife into her top allies.

Comment: NewsDay Editor

Whoever coined the phrase that politics is a dirty game knew exactly what they were talking about. Mahoka, the Hurungwe East MP, who during Grace’s campaign against former Vice-President Joice Mujuru turned into the First Lady’s de facto chief of protocol, cannot believe what has hit her.

We are really saddened not by what has befallen her together with Sandi-Moyo given the roles they played in the vilification of other party stalwarts apart from Mujuru, but by the abuse of power in Zanu PF.

It must be very hurting and ironic to Mahoka, especially after giving her all to dress down Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa to please her principal, that the outspoken MP is today in the firing line after rubbing her erstwhile boss the wrong way.

In fact, the problem with people like Mahoka is that they never learn. Zanu PF is consistent in its approach, especially if one is acquainted with its operations — today one is a darling, and tomorrow, after outliving your usefulness, one is discarded just like that.

In many cases, the Johnny-come-latelies continue to suffer from this kind of amnesia. Their thick-headedness is amazing and very costly to many of them. They traversed the whole country shouting at everybody and badmouthing everyone who stood in their way.

It is not even surprising if Zimbabweans were to witness another high-profile expulsion. Everything that is replaying in Zanu PF right now has all the hallmarks of President Robert Mugabe’s Machiavellian antics.

After having been used to dress down Mnangagwa, ostensibly at the bidding of the First Lady herself, today Mahoka stands accused of disrespecting the VP.

Surprisingly, hundreds of the very same people who celebrated as she was disparaging Mnangagwa in the most uncouth manner before Mugabe and Grace are calling for her ouster. Sandi-Moyo and Mahoka, who yesterday crossed the line for Grace, today stand accused of disrespecting the very same Grace and Mnangagwa. How time flies! How things change! Zimbabweans have nothing to celebrate in the intra-party succession fights except that it’s affecting their lives in a big way.

But Grace must be warned that power, like money, comes and flies away in broad daylight like an eagle. We have no doubt that one day, she will be the one on the receiving end.

These happenings in Zanu PF, which are almost a reprise of many similar scenes in the past, should serve as a lesson to all party officials and members that once they are out of the party’s graces, deemed unfit to serve it, one will be booted out in the most unceremonious manner — and by the very same people who used to cheer them on and sing their praises! It’s only a matter of time before one is systematically ejected, whether they were elected or appointed by the supreme-appointing authority. Mujuru’s fate is a case in point.

Once whispers begin to move in the party’s corridors, and people begin to clamour for their blood, then it means the writing is on the wall. Zanu PF bigwigs must be very afraid, and they have every reason to be actually. Many who thought they were invincible must be quaking in their boots.

Beware the Ides of March!