Oh God! Whatever sins Zimbabweans committed to deserve such dire socio-economic-political torment ought be forgiven by now. As if the prevailing hardships are not already hitting were it pains the most, news of yet another political pie in the sky concept douses the hope for an improvement on the living standard.
Cyprian Muketiwa Ndawana,Guest Column
With retrenched Vice President Joice Mujuru now offering to BUILD — Blueprint to Unlock Investment and Leverage for Development — it is all but Dutch courage that she masters the guts to stake her intentions. Hence, it has to be stated that she is not motivated by conviction, but by convenience.
If Mujuru had not been dumped out of the Zanu PF bandwagon, she could still been enjoying the ride. Her departure from Zanu PF was not fuelled by differences in policies; but that a tsunami like wave swept her out of the grave train. If it were not for that, she could by now be enjoying her comfty in both party and government corridors.
Given that Mujuru did not part company with Zanu PF on her own conscious judgment, her forming a political party is more out of vengeance than principle. She has no moral obligation to emulate the Damascus conversation, to turn from Saul to Paul.
It is an open secret that Mujuru shared the chalice with President Robert Mugabe since independence in 1980. She paid tribute to him on numerous occasions, expressing profound gratitude for the political apprenticeship she benefited from under his tutelage.
The name of her proposed party, People First (PF), reveals where her heart is. Like a divorced wife who parts company with her husband, but vow to hold on tenaciously to his name, Mujuru’s party name is evident of the fact that her political ambilical cord has not yet been severed from Zanu PF.
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By choosing a name that bares close semblance to that of the party which jilted her, Mujuru can be said to be still wearing the Zanu PF regalia, though, in side out. A lack of ingenuity, similar to that of the MDC breakaway factions, leads to the lame tendency of holding on to the name of the party one left.
When some cadres broke away from Zapu, to form Zanu back in 1962, at least they had the nerve to choose a name that was different and distinct from the one they brokeaway from.
Promises, Mujuru makes in her said manifesto do not signal the dawn of a new era. The populace is not so gullible that they would clap hands and stamp feet at the reforms she proposes to make. Although the reforms are meaningful, Mujuru cannot parade herself as one pregnant with solutions. But she has mastered the courage of her convictions to acknowledge and apologise for her part to the problems that robbed Zimbabwe of her breadbasket of the region status.
First things first — Mujuru has a lot of introspection to do. She cannot assume that just because she is now out of Zanu PF, she is automatically exonerated from answering for the ills the regime she was part to caused. It would be the summit of idiocy for her to mistake the public sympathy she has for the uncouth manner she was ejected out of Zanu PF, for support of her party.
In fact, a bun does not change its name to humburger simply for the love of a new name. It has to go through the process of being cut into halves and have cheese, ham, tomatoe and onion stashed. Mujuru too has to go through some social processes for society to approve of her new status.
Public sympathy is not one and the same thing as support. Mujuru ought to know that not all diseases of the mouth are within the domain of the dentist.. Despite shasring close proximity with teeth, tonsels are not attended to by dentist; the analogy holds true to sympathy and support.
An array of obstacles are littered in Mujuru’s route to her regeneration. Ask any marketing practitioner and they would readily admit that relaunching a product is more demanding than the initial launch. Likewise, her relaunch as the centerpiece of PF, is inevitably destined to be a gruelling task.
Gutfill tells me that her primary obstacle is Mugabe. Given that she openly admitted that everything she knows about politics, she learnt it on the lap of Mugabe, it goes without mention that he is a formidable hinderance to her breakthrough.
In katate there is the sensei (master) and student; one critical error many a karate student commits is to assume that by virtue of their being youth, they are agile and fast enough to defeat the master. Yet, to their surprise, the sensei’s experience and wisdom enables him to counter the youth’s agility and swiftness.
Mujuru is predominantly surrounded by people, the likes of Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo who, like herself, were booted out of the Zanu PF bandwagon. The group faces a serious credibilty challenge, given that they supported and implemented policies that brought ruin to the economy.
It is my heartfelt belief that the court of public opinion is in unison in its thumbs down verdict on recycling politicians, more ones who shared the chalice with Mugabe and perpetuated his rule. By virtue of the principle of collective responsibility, such people, Mujuru included, do not have the moral obligation to exonerate themselves from bringing the country on its economic deathbed.
Although it is essentially their democratic right to form a political party, Mujuru and her colleagues must of necessity apologise and show remorse for their role in ruining the country.
Just as I would not endorse the appointment of a rapist to be girls’ hostel master, People First does not deserve my endorsement. After all is said and done, roses, by any other name, smell and prick the same.
