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NewsDay

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Dr Grace Mugabe is right after all

Opinion & Analysis
The learned Dr Grace Mugabe’s analysis of the state of Zanu PF is very candid and spot-on, especially the revelation that the majority of leaders in Zanu PF

The learned Dr Grace Mugabe’s analysis of the state of Zanu PF is very candid and spot-on, especially the revelation that the majority of leaders in Zanu PF want to see the back of her husband.

GUEST COLUMNIST RASHWEAT MUKUNDU

This fact as stated by Dr Mugabe is as true and nothing of a revelation from the recently capped Dr, as it is natural and given that with a leader who is 90 years old, the juniors are thinking of the future and rightfully so.

Dr Mugabe is an upcoming politician and still learning the ropes of politics hence the almost bare and theatrical rally speech bemoaning the undermining of her husband’s power and far less an articulation of a vision for the party’s Women’s League or Zimbabwe in general.

The shallow speech at the Chinhoyi rally was to be expected from someone who is trying to make sense of the political world at a time the first family is under considerable pressure from all sides.

It is difficult to discern what Dr Mugabe stands for at this moment apart from defending the interests of her husband and herself, lashing out at opponents both within and without.

As usual, she turned to her favourite character Morgan Tsvangirai who she attacked as satanic for not heeding the calls of “prophets” not to protest.

The prophets obviously have not read our Constitution which allows peaceful protest among many other forms of popular expression, and attempting to dissuade citizens from exercising their constitutional right may not necessarily be a message from God, but a mischievous message meant to instil fear and serve political interests.

The good Dr relied on her well known repertoire of hate words in attacking the MDC-T leader.

If all hate words are to disappear, then Dr Mugabe will be left speechless since she specialises in churning them out with abandon and seems devoid of any positive words of encouragement and peace across what divides us.

She has little substance on key national issues. One is left wondering whether her backers are setting her for failure by not providing properly researched and written speeches so that the learned Dr can stick to the script and avoid embarrassing utterances.

The only message I got from Chinhoyi was the call to give opposition members agricultural inputs, this as the good Dr states not because it is a citizen right to receive whatever is purchased by states funds, but because it will assist in “mending” the “wrong” ways of the MDC supporters.

While we do not expect the good Dr to be as eloquent as the President who has decades of years of experiences in politics behind him, the good Dr is better advised to start speaking like a national leader rather than a mourning loser more concerned about keeping power in the family than promoting the general good as Minister Jonathan Moyo would say, advancing the national interest.

The good Dr may have fallen under the Chinhoyi diesel spell that usually attacks Zanu PF leaders when they visit Chinhoyi when she belted out some untruths on how her husband is a mellow man of God who addresses issues through prayer.

Who has forgotten the President talking about kudashura (beating) Tsvangirai and waving his fist in the air against the opposition.

I applaud the MDC-T leader’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka for reminding Dr Grace of what the opposition thinks of her husband when it comes to degrees in violence and how the past speaks for itself.

Maybe this is another area where the good Dr’s advisers need to work with her, that we are not interested in hearing about how many times President Mugabe prays, but what is her vision for the party and Zimbabwe outside what we already know about the President.

There is too much bitterness and anger in the Dr which in politics is interpreted as fear, intimidation and indecision when all that one dwells on is a desire to be respected, feared and hallowed.

Instead of frightening the fighting factions into their fox holes, the good Dr is on the contrary confirming what many on the factions are concerned about, that they can no longer rely on the President to define the future, more so when as the good Dr says, the president already knows that he has lost support of his juniors who are reportedly plotting his downfall.

Dr Mugabe all, but added petrol to the inferno of factionalism by seemingly threatening those opposed to her husband in the party.

It may be a while when the President has control, but like all of us, he has to call it a day one day, one way or the other, so what becomes of the good Dr? The good Dr is a “prophet” in her own right by prophesying that she is not liked by her husbands’ juniors in the party. This as stated long back, she is equally not liked by those who pretend to support her now as well as those who she thinks opposes her.

Dr Mugabe’s political career is starting at a bad time and she has hit a bad note in establishing her power base if she has any at all. She needs to talk way way above factionalism in Zanu PF, appeal to the people of Zimbabwe as a mother figure not another monya (bouncer) preparing to beat the hell out of us again.

We have had enough of beatings and now want peace makers, someone who unites us across the political, tribal and religious divide, someone in touch with peoples needs.

We are not interested in ad hoc speeches that are designed around bags of maize seed and fertiliser meant to bribe the rural electorate, but an articulation of national vision beyond one’s mourning over a piece of land in Mazoe, even as thousands don’t have a 200 square metre to build a house, and as many are losing their houses to marauding council officials.

It is still a long way before Dr Mugabe becomes the politician that her husband has been. At least we rest on the promise that war veterans do not salute those who did not fight in the liberation struggle that includes the two Drs, Morgan Tsvangirai and Grace Mugabe. Icho!