Zanu PF has now become child’s play — Gumbo

via Zanu PF has now become child’s play — Gumbo – DailyNews Live 5 DECEMBER 2014 by FUNGI KWARAMBA

HARARE – Expelled former Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo has described the ruling party’s  on-going “elective” congress as a circus that could  mark the last rites of the former liberation movement.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily News yesterday, the fearless war veteran said his overplayed dismissal was a non-event that would not stop him from speaking frankly about the ugly goings-on in Zanu PF.

“It (the congress) is a circus and Zanu PF has become child’s play. How, for example does one get expelled for telling the truth?” he asked rhetorically, adding, “All this is being done by mafikizolos”.

Gumbo spoke as anarchy and violence continued to characterise the congress, with all perceived sympathisers of beleaguered Vice President Joice Mujuru who were brave enough to come to the week-long gathering facing sustained harassment and hounding.

Gumbo also reiterated his long-standing view in yesterday’s interview that the party had been hijacked by what he calls “the Gang of Four” — comprising outgoing women’s league boss Oppah Muchinguri, Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao, Water Affairs minister Saviour Kasukuwere and Information minister Jonathan Moyo.

The former Dare reChimurenga (liberation War Council) member, whose love-hate relationship with President Robert Mugabe dates back to the days of the struggle for independence, said it was impossible for him to stop commenting on events within Zanu PF and the country as many people had lost their lives fighting for democracy in Zimbabwe.

“If some of us don’t tell the truth about the goings-on in the party, who will?”

“Most people are scared to death of raising opposing views with President Mugabe but I’m not. I can’t be intimidated by this and mahumbwe chaiwo aakuitika kuparty (things are now done in a childish way in the party),” Gumbo said.

His comments came as hundreds of Zanu PF officials and Members of Parliament perceived to be loyal to Mujuru, including dozens of Cabinet ministers, have been barred from attending this week’s damp squib congress.

Some of the people who have been affected by the thuggish methods of the anti-Mujuru camp are said to be presently holed up in safe houses dotted around the country, fearing for their lives.

In addition, nine of the party’s 10 provincial chairpersons have been removed from office via controversial votes of no confidence, ostensibly for fanning factionalism but in reality because of their suspected links to Mujuru.

And with Mugabe having mutilated his party’s constitution and appropriated all powers to appoint his underlings, some party heavyweights and analysts say he now wields unfettered control of Zanu

PF, a move that they say has also planted the seeds for the violent splitting of the party.

All this caused a miffed politburo member this week to derisively describe the ongoing congress as “a (President Robert) Mugabe praise and worship show”.

“There is no congress taking place this week. It’s just a Mugabe praise and worship show, that’s all.

Some war veterans interviewed by the Daily News yesterday also lamented the fact that there was “a systematic plot to flush out bona fide Zanu PF stalwarts” and replace them with “sycophants” who would kowtow to the First Family’s whims, particularly Mugabe’s wife Grace.

Gumbo said yesterday time would vindicate his view that the party had been hijacked by “vultures”.

“People in the central committee, the politburo and the president himself know the truth and the truth is that this party has been hijacked.

“But by the time they wake up, it will be too late. I’m not even affected by the so-called expulsion. I did my part to liberate this country, and my conscience is very clear,” he said.

The demise of Mujuru, who all along appeared to be the front-runner to succeed Mugabe over the past decade, may have cleared the way for Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, once a personal aide to the nonagenarian, to finally realise his ambition and become the new crown prince within the party.

The well-choreographed bloodbath in Zanu PF, including sensational claims that Mujuru and her close allies have been plotting to assassinate Mugabe, has raised serious concerns about the impact of the increasingly violent infighting on ever-deteriorating government service and Zimbabwe’s ailing economy.

What has alarmed many Zimbabweans and outside observers alike is the seeming lack of appreciation or care, by the authors of the anarchy, of the negative impact of their actions and utterances on the country.

And developments at the ongoing congress in Harare suggest that things are set to get worse before they get better for long-suffering Zimbabweans — with Mujuru and Cabinet ministers perceived to be sympathetic to her, including Nicholas Goche, Francis Nhema, Dzikamai Mavhaire and Didymus Mutasa, continuing to be targets of the poisonous political venom from the Grace and Mnangagwa camp.

All these prominent players were blocked from being elected into Zanu PF’s powerful central committee, which not only puts their current government positions in doubt, but has seismic short and long-term negative implications on the quality of government service.

Analysts say a major Cabinet reshuffle is now imminent, as it is clear that all of the targeted politicians no longer enjoy Mugabe’s confidence, with many of them accused of being participants in the murky plot to oust and assassinate the nonagenarian.

Mujuru, Mutasa and Goche have not been to this week’s congress, with the latter two said to be indisposed by illness.

A senior politburo member said last week that he was “very sad” about the goings-on in the party, as well as the effects of “this anarchy” on the country.

“There is no doubt that we are a party and country in crisis. What makes me very sad is that the perpetrators of this anarchy don’t care at all what this all does to the party, president Mugabe’s legacy and the country. It’s tragic,” he said.

Mugabe, who turns 91 soon, is the only leader Zimbabwe has had since the country attained its independence from Britain in 1980.

During this period, virtually all of Zimbabwe’s neighbours have had at least four leaders, leaving Mugabe — Africa’s oldest and one of the longest serving on the continent — the odd man out in the region, and with no obvious successor in sight.