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NewsDay

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Who is in charge?

Opinion & Analysis
Mugabe is a strongman, one of the last few standing in Africa, who is not generally associated with indecision.

With President Robert Mugabe going to Dubai on business at the same time having snubbed the EU-Africa Summit in Brussels and in a week in which his government officers, current and former, were at each other’s throats on issues from ethanol, coal, airplanes, diamonds, partisan media coverage to foreign affairs, the question has to be asked: Is there anyone in charge in Zimbabwe?

RASHWEAT MUKUNDU

Mugabe is a strongman, one of the last few standing in Africa, who is not generally associated with indecision. Whether right or wrong, he has in the past stuck to his positions and also articulates them openly.

But in the last few weeks all the evidence of the centre not holding is writ large and citizens are generally concerned about what the heck the Zanu PF government is doing.

For starters the EU snub was a blooper in foreign relations and for a number of reasons.

First, the Zanu PF government celebrated the unbanning of the Marange diamonds and immediately shipped away some stones for auction in Antwerp, Belgium.

Second, Mugabe has appended his signature to the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that gives the EU unlimited access to Zimbabwe’s market at a time when other African governments that include Namibia were arguing for a better EPAs deal and more clarification on the nature of the relationship, in other words there is a trade deal to discuss and implement between Zimbabwe and the EU, hence the importance of the Brussels summit.

Third, the Zimbabwe government has on many occasions stated its intention to engage the EU and find a lasting solution to the ongoing sanctions debate. What better opportunity for Mugabe to fulfil this engagement process than to attend the EU-Africa summit and engage face to face with his Western detractors.

Are we seeing Mugabe exhibiting fear of facing the West which he as berated at the slightest opportunity? Is Mugabe confident of his policies or chickening out of face-to-face dialogue because he no longer believes in what he says.

I doubt the First Lady’s visa denial is reason enough for the Head of State to snub the EU, and as many Zimbabweans have commented, what the hell does the First Lady want to do in Brussels apart from shopping?

Whereas Mugabe has signed an EPA agreement with the EU which as many citizens, the business community and civil society are not really awake to, moreso its negative implications on a comatose economy as ours, was Brussels not the chance to engage on these matters?

Even warring parties ultimately have to face each other on the table and this is a lesson that we are far less qualified to teach President Mugabe, but to remind him thereof.

It is increasingly becoming clear that Mugabe is presiding over an incoherent government in which there is internal war for succession and complete ignorance and disinterest to move the country forward. In the past it was generally expected that Mugabe would take action rightly or wrongly, in this case he appears to be a spectator like the rest of us apart from the intermittent statements admonishing the factionalism in the party.

Nothing demonstrates this incoherence than the acres of media space devoted to infighting in Zanu PF, and more exposés on corruption from Chiredzi to Hwange.

The public attacks of the Foreign minister by his deputy, the attacks by MP Temba Mliswa on corrupt businesspeople who use political connections, the return of salvos to Mliswa by Information minister Jonthan Moyo, then Moyo to former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, then Basil Nyabanza to Mliswa, Obert Mpofu to Ray Kaukonde and Nicholas Goche, Francis Nhema to Saviour Kasukuwere, and the list goes on, clearly tells that the system has broken down.

Zanu PF was at some point known for its discipline, but that was then, now it is an open war that puts the country and citizens at risk.

This risk is not only physical as there is all likelihood of the contending factions engaging in open pitched battles, but more critically national development is stalled as there is no coherence in government policies and teamwork in pushing Zimbabwe’s interest locally and in the international arena.

An example, the government says it is crafting a new diamond mining policy and in the absence of that policy, how will Mugabe negotiate diamond deals in Dubai?

The ongoing corruption exposés are clearly indicating how deep corruption is and how fragile Zanu PF is in addressing this scourge. In other words, it will take the whole removal of the Zanu PF system to address corruption.

The AirZim airplanes leasing stories, for there are many, the Hwange saga, ethanol, contest over media coverage openly tell a story of a party at war with itself and a government that is clueless and all focused on power.

Zanu PF and its government have abandoned their constitutional mandate of defending and safeguarding the interests of Zimbabwe. In this regard, all sorts of fortune-seekers are thronging our borders yet many of the citizens are struggling to put a decent meal on the table.

It is important that Zanu PF and its government realise that what matters to citizens is not so much who succeeds Mugabe, but that Zimbabwe socio-economic challenges are addressed.

The juxtaposition to the sorry state of the victims of Tokwe-Mukosi with reports of millions changing hands within a few circles tell of a party that has lost its compass and conscience.

In this regard it is important that those who swore to serve Zimbabwe wake up to this role and if indeed tired take a well deserved rest.

This is not only in reference to Mugabe, but all those surrounding him who have known no other life apart from being ministers and senior civil servants since the 1980s.

Surely there is life out of government and we pray for a return of sanity and leadership.