via The power of propaganda in ZANU PF’s succession politics – The Zimbabwean 26 February 2015
Factional and succession war in ZANU PF has reached catastrophic levels as more party cadres fall victim to the mantra “plot to remove the president from power”. This charade remains and is likely to have more victims than we initially thought.
Could there be an element of truth that for sure they were people plotting the removal of the president from power, including assassinating him if push comes to shove? Then let the law take its course, why the long wait. Or are all these false accusations and fibs perpetuated on “Team Gamatox” by a well-oiled propaganda machinery of “Team Weevils”?
One thing for sure is that the operation of propaganda is ostensibly more sophisticated than many of us thought, including those within ZANU PF. The dissemination of propaganda, through the use of smears – the operation of making untruthful accusations against a political opponent – is at work in ZANU PF since the lead to last December congress.
This is not a new phenomenon in politics (both in and outside Zimbabwe) although its impact varies from place to place. For example, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign damaged John Kerry’s chance for presidency in the USA by making false accusations about his Vietnam War record. He did not rebut the accusations sufficiently early and in the right medium and so it worked. On the other hand, the “Obama is Muslim” campaign by various Republican websites was unsuccessful because Obama’s campaign rebutted it effectively online and early on.
What makes the ZANU PF smear campaign by “Team Weevils” peculiar is that it now carries “vernacular baggage”, associated forever with stringent polemics of hatred. Of course the objective is not to tell the truth to the public about “Team Gamatox” as Grace want us to believe, but it is about painstakingly winning over more sympathisers by making the worse appear the better – an amalgam of myth, symbolism and rhetoric.
What lessons can we learn from this propaganda blitz so far? First, proselytization of fibs is fundamental in smear campaigns. It is a political skill meant to make fibs look like the truth because facts seldom speak for themselves in politics.
“Team Gamatox” underestimated Grace’s ability to manipulate myth, symbolism and rhetoric. This is not a leadership skill but a masterpiece of spin. Grace’s smear campaign via the alchemy of words, false accusations, and symbolic lies ranks as one of her greatest achievements in her political career so far. Just like John Kerry, “Team Gamatox” has not rebutted these false accusations early enough to expose the lies. With passage of time, a lie told over and over becomes truth.
Second, “Team Gamatox” should bear in mind that, enthusiastically or not, people may go on with whatever public orthodox has been presented to them, as much of the American public did during the Iraq war, believing that Saddam Hussein was personally responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks and had weapons of mass destruction until the various public enquiries indicated otherwise.
Similarly in Britain, the government’s presentation of a case for war in Iraq, together with an inherent patriotism in the general public, added to the fact that the troops were successful in their mission, meant that the general public ended up supporting the troops, even if they did not support the war.
Third, propaganda is a special province of “Team Weevils” because the impact of their propaganda has been incalculable. Much of what they place on the agenda is coercion and organised violence, which works very well when memory becomes a function of the equation – Rugare Gumbo hated the president from the liberation war time and Teurai Ropa did not down the helicopter, you name it.
We are always reminded of what “Team Gamatox” did or did not do during the liberation war, as if all those in “Team Weevils” are perfect, including the centre of power. Remember that it is difficult for the people to reject an explicit message when it is repackaged and contextualized. The reasons are not hard to fathom when we are made to see the past through the prism of a carefully crafted perceptual lens. More so when the audience include a tired and weary citizenry targeted with fear appeals designed to sap their will and instigate electoral change by hook or crook.
Fourth, propaganda takes many forms. The one started by Grace is explicit propaganda and is the least important though its effectiveness varies. It appeals to the cognitive defences of those who seek to preserve their own integrity by using manipulative intent. It is less important because it is barefaced and thrives on creating flimsy allegations and naivety – a genre that thrives on emotional manipulation cannot really succeed if that manipulation is obvious to its targets because the craftwork of manipulation is easily exposable. Unfortunately “Team Gamatox” has not done this.
Having said all this, is it a moot point to say that propaganda has been abused given the bad reputation that it has received in Zimbabwean politics? While I agree that propaganda is not bad or good per se, it is what it is used for and the subsequent consequences of its use which are either bad or good. When propaganda is used to create in the mind of the public artificial values and for the long-term ill of humanity, then it is bad.
ZANU PF’s smear campaign is the most unanticipated consequence of abusing propaganda. Few could have foreseen the propaganda employments in the public media against their own “Heroes” of the liberation war. Chaikuda kana chokuvenga… Little did we know that the “Thank You” meetings organised for Grace to thank the people for elevating her to lead the ZANU PF’s women’s league was actually a well-orchestrated propaganda strategy to bring down moderate forces within the party.
ZANU PF is well known for manufacturing myths against dissent. This time is has done it, but myths that seek to perpetuate and deepen animosity against its own kind. The only antidote is to expel and get rid of all those who dare question the centre of power for which Grace has one foot in. The aim is to covertly decimate perceived opponents from within and without the party structures using both vertical means (public smear campaigns) and horizontal means (organised violence gangs masquerading as patriot youth). However, this approach is increasingly compromised both in terms of production values and in terms of its symbolic and rhetorical argumentation.
While ZANU PF’s style is principally agitation and atrocity propaganda, what is clear is that ZANU PF faces a huge ideological battle against veteran members in “Team Gamatox” as well as how to tame hardliners in “Team Weevils” who feel they did not get enough share of the spoils after the December congress.
By Sheunesu Hove (hovefish@gmail.com)
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