Anti-Bob move suicidal for Mujuru, analysts

via Anti-Bob move suicidal for Mujuru, analysts – NewZimbabwe 05 April 2015 by Nkosana Dlamini

FAMOUS biblical verse says, “if someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also”.

The import of the verse is that never entertain an urge to retaliate when provoked.

The verse, for all its noble intentions, however does not seem to offer much alternative in cases where both cheeks are slapped countless times.

Likewise, ousted Vice President Joice Mujuru finds herself in the latter scenario, having been pummelled numerous times by her Zanu PF rivals.

First it was the shock death of her husband, retired army General Solomon Mujuru, in a mysterious inferno in 2011.

Because of the complex circumstances surrounding the tragedy, Joice Mujuru may not have had much cause to pin the act on party enemies keen on dousing the family’s growing influence within Zanu PF.

But hindsight may have now given the embattled politician a hint as to the real reasons behind her husband’s demise.

Mujuru, an enduring character judging by the way she has handled her  misfortune in the past few months, could somewhat live with that trauma probably hoping she would revisit the matter should she, one day, become president.

Bang! She was ousted as VP in the most dramatic of fashions.

Months leading to that, she was the target of intense vilification by the state media, itself a willing pawn in her successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa’s power grab ambitions.

Mujuru was accused of plotting President Robert Mugabe’s assassination, corruption and witchcraft, among a slew of unproven allegations.

Days ahead of the Zanu PF December congress, Mujuru had to evacuate her immediate family to South Africa for fear of being harmed by excitable Mugabe followers.

Grace Mugabe, in her multiple acerbic moments, equated her to a prostitute, telling the nation Mujuru was once caught on camera in a not so innocent mini-skirt stunt. She further labelled the former VP a gossiper.

Post congress, Mujuru remained fair game among Zanu PF hawks who even
threatened to have her jailed for the offences.

February this year, President Mugabe took the provocation a step further, telling the nation live on national TV that his once trusted deputy had hired Nigerians to bewitch him.

For all the transgressions, Mujuru, a devout Christian, kept her cool. In fact, when she cared to speak, she was affirming her undying love for Zanu PF.

Her expulsion from Zanu PF last Thursday could probably be the furthest she could be pushed and one wonders how much pummelling she can take for her to finally blow her top.

Retired army Major Kudzai Mbudzi feels Mujuru must for once get out of her false comfort zone and bell the proverbial cat.

“I think Mai Mujuru should now be realistic enough and do exactly like what (Tendai, MDC) Biti and his group did, to say we have sat down since we constitute the majority and decided to expel Mugabe,” he said.

However, Harare based political analyst, Rejoice Ngwenya thinks Mujuru is not brave enough to confront the Zanu PF machinery and would rather save her skin.

“Her guarded response is to do with how she has decided to cover up her past transgressions. I think its best for her to remain safe than to risk,” Ngwenya said of a politician accused of corruption.

“I bet my dollar that until she knows that half of the guys and even those in the army are on her side, she would rather stay put.

“She is not cut out for the challenge. She was made by her husband and her options are thin now.

Another analyst also warned Mujuru would be digging her grave if she tried to take that path.

Says the analyst: “While Mujuru knows she has some degree of support among top Zanu PF politicians cascading straight to the grassroots, she may not be so sure of how committed these were should she eventually decide to confront Mugabe.

“She knows this is a gamble way too dangerous, and if she fails to get it right first time, she is dead and buried,” quips one Harare political analyst who prefers not to be named.

Speaking at a public debate forum in January this year, top Zanu PF schemer and Mnangagwa ally, Jonathan Moyo, said the group were well prepared for any Mujuru move and well ready to deal with it.

“The bravado that ‘no they can’t do this to us, we are going to take them on, they would be litigation, we will form a party’, it has happened before; and just like before it would not lead to anything,” Moyo said.

“These things are problematic when they happen on the eve of an election, when they happen one and half years after an election, three years before the next election, please don’t waste a lot of time thinking this is very important, it will not lead to anything.”

Moyo added: “l am very sure, we have a very long way before the next election and those of us like the PC (Saviour Kasukuwere) here and others are at work and just watch the space and see what that work is going to be.”