Mujuru is no victim

via Mujuru is no victim 19 November 2014 by Vince Musewe

Dictatorships survive because of those who prop up the dictator and do nothing while enjoying the spoils of high office.

I remember well when Thabo Mbeki fired Jacob Zuma for corruption. He was (mistakenly) seen as a victim and there was widespread sympathy for him. The likes of Julius Malema even swore they would die for Zuma and Cosatu did all it could to ensure that he prevailed. Now they all regret because they were wrong. They backed Zuma on the wrong principle. In my opinion, mass sympathy is the worst means of judging or electing leaders.

We face the same danger here in Zimbabwe by sympathising with Joice Mujuru as a victim, but I want to argue that she has been complicit in creating the very circumstances that have led to where we are as a country – and where she is today.

I am not saying that what is happening within Zanu (PF) is commendable – but we must never forget that the party remains a broad church of cowards and pseudo-revolutionaries who are glued together by the thirst for power, the fear of change and insatiable greed.

As a Vice President Mujuru cannot defend the accusation that she has used her office to amass personal wealth, they all do that. There is even a joke that if you want to make money, first see what the VP is growing on the farms she grabbed and no doubt a profitable price for whatever she is growing will be announced by government just before harvest time.

Mujuru has added not an iota of value to our quest for freedom. She has sat next to Mugabe and enjoyed high office without responsibility. I have asked many what exactly she has done for us and all I hear is her contribution during the struggle. Others who certainly did more than her have not been recognised.

Dictatorships survive because those how prop up the dictator do nothing while enjoying the spoils of high office. The likes of Mujuru cannot claim immunity from all that has happened to destroy this economy, create poverty and lead to millions of talented, self-respecting Zimbabweans to leave their motherland.

Whether she survives the chop or not will not make any difference to the state of our nation. The masses tend to have a very short memory and have forgotten that Mujuru remains complicit in their oppression.

We quickly forget that she survived working with Mugabe because she supported him all the way throughout the years and said nothing. We cannot now paint her as a saint or a victim while we condemn what Mugabe has done to this country. As Vice President, she is severally and jointly liable for her acts of omission or commission in the tyranny that has devastated so many lives.

Let us not forget how she vociferously objected to Strive Masiyiwa getting a cell phone licence – no doubt because she wanted a piece of the action. There are many deals that I have heard of where her name has continually come up. The interesting fact is that Mujuru has never refuted any of the deals that have been mentioned.

At times like this we will make the mistake at looking at circumstances and siding with “victims’’. But Mujuru is no victim. I certainly don’t want a President who is unscrupulous and corrupt. That is what has killed Africa’s potential and we are where we are today as a society because of the leadership, or lack thereof, of Mugabe and his VPs.

Others say Mnangagwa is no better and is actually worse. Even if that is correct, it does not make Mujuru better nor does it resolve the questions around her integrity. If Zanu (PF) cannot provide a better leader, then it is up to us to dismiss them in 2018 and we ought to be gripped with that now as opposed to being entertained with what is really a political show of no benefit to the economic and social problems that we face.

There is no doubt that Mugabe has overstayed his welcome. But as a country we have had enough of Zanu (PF) and as long as they remain the sole custodians of our future, we are never going to see the Zimbabwe we want in this lifetime.

2018 is therefore going to be very important for all of us. We can either continue to support a political party that has proved beyond reasonable doubt that it is in power not for our benefit, but for the benefit of a predatory cabal with no sense of responsibility or interest in the eradication of poverty or the establishment of social justice and equity. Or we can choose to take Zimbabwe on a new path.

Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You can contact him on vtmusewe@gmail.com

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