The First Couple of Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe and Grace Mugabe, sat there at the top table, shifting uncomfortably in their comfortable seats as they painfully sustained mortified embarrassment.
Opinion by Geoffrey Nyarota
Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa was a study in stony-faced endurance of painful assault on his person. Sitting motionlessly on the other side of the First Couple I thought the other Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko was peacefully dozing off. But I was mistaken. He was listening.
Zanu PF secretary for war veterans welfare Sydney Sekeramayi, as well as other dignitaries on the podium clearly appeared uncertain as to how to handle the unfolding and unprecedented political drama — a Vice President being fired in public by a lowly party functionary.
There was no doubt that Zimbabwe’s four most powerful political dignitaries, the President, his spouse, and the two vice-presidents were unusually discomfited.
The atmosphere had been electric and pregnant with expectation since word filtered out, beginning on Monday, that the war veteran community, at least a section thereof, were preparing to hold yet another palaver, this time hastily convened, with their patron, the President, on Wednesday. Fireworks were naturally expected, given the circumstances of the sensational communique issued by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) last Thursday. The statement was so explosive that, once it found its way onto the public domain, none of the supposedly gallant former freedom fighters dared claim credit for issuing or being associated, however remotely, with it.
Amid a plethora of other demands, the communique urged the President to step down. So controversial was the communique that both Zimbabwe Newspapers and ZBC pretended they never saw it.
But when the much expected or feared show-down finally descended on the quickly organised rally, held in front of the majestic Zanu PF headquarters, it left all observers stunned. Dumbfounded were those watching from close quarters at the venue, as well as the greater majority of citizens who observed the riveting spectacle from the comfort of their homes, offices or wherever else they had a television set in front of them.
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At the centre of the stage was the Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister, Makoni South MP as well as the not entirely articulate but extremely controversial, nevertheless, acting chairperson of the splinter ZNLWVA Mandiitawepi Chimene.
Her assignment appeared simple enough. It was to instantly pulverize and effectively relegate to the dustbin of Zimbabwe’s political history Mnangagwa. She instructed Mugabe to fire Mnangagwa without further ado. History was repeating itself. Not long ago Zimbabweans watched spell-bound as former Vice-President Joice Mujuru was jettisoned by Zanu PF as Mnangagwa studied the proceedings appreciatively from the side lines.
I must confess that on Wednesday I felt genuinely sorry for Mugabe.
While he assured the press corps towards the end that he was still in charge of both party and nation and enjoined private press journalists to pass this message on to their supposed western handlers, the unfolding tragi-comedy and the countenance of consternation painted on the faces of the assembled party faithful suggested that all might not be too well at Zanu PF headquarters. The ZBC television cameramen constantly focused on the imposingly tall structure rather menacingly, as if on cue.
Surprisingly, Chimene’s ferocious onslaught on Mnangagwa did not invoke the wholesale explosion of approval that she might have expected as reward for her bravado. In fact, it did not escape my attention, or that of other observers, I believe, that those who listened in bewilderment as Chimene spoke effectively denied her a standing ovation. The response to the charade at the Zanu PF headquarters was patently subdued.
Even the coaxing of the master of ceremony to the audience to acknowledge the animated performance of the acting chairperson of the splinter ZNLWVA failed to achieve the expected ululation.
Personally, I was mortified and felt betrayed, especially by the totally uncalled-for invocation of the illustrious name of the mutual ancestor of both Chimene and myself, the gallant Mambo Chingaira Makoni. His head was hacked off by adventurous members of the British Pioneer Column at the time of the occupation of our land. He stood his ground against the invaders until he was betrayed by one of his own and captured.
Shockingly, Chimene now offered her own head for decapitation in sham gallantry while fighting a Zanu PF cause the essence of which many of her compatriots now fail to comprehend.
As if this was not unacceptable enough, she shocked her audience by intimating while standing there before the nation’s very ruling elite and the thousands that had gathered around her for her supposed moment of glory, that is apart from the millions who listened on radio or watched on television, that she was aware of the malicious stories told about her with regard to an alleged abuse of mbanje, the Shona name for the illegal drug, marijuana.
Then she made the unconceivable confession, that if association with drugs induced enhanced performance on her part, whatever the assignment, then she would feel no compunction about indulging.
The source of my mortification was multiple.
These were the shocking public pronouncements of an important public figure. Not only is she the Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister; she is also Makoni South MP. To aggravate issues, these utterances were made by the minister while addressing none other than the President and patron of the very war veterans of whom Chimene is the splinter group acting chairperson.
Sitting right there next to the President was the First Lady, who is the chairperson of the Zanu PF women’s league and is, therefore, regarded by many as the mother of the nation.
To add insult to my own injury, Chimene is closely related to and is, therefore, extremely well-known to me. She and I emanate from virtually the same village, her rural home, kwaChimene, being a mere two kilometres or less from my own village kwaMudzimukunze, in Ward 26 of Makoni South Constituency. We are related, calling each other brother and sister in the time-tested fashion of clans people of the Maungwe Tribe of Makoni District.
She calls me Mukoma Geoff or Nyati, while I address her as Muzvare Mandi or Shonga.
I have listened with utter concern as people, especially from the constituency have complained that our MP is receiving excessive publicity, mostly all for the wrong reasons, while neglecting the needs of Makoni South.
On the morning of her shocking performance in front of the imposing headquarters of the ruling party, Muzvare Mandi had graced the pages of NewsDay newspaper, in circumstances where she was reported to have invaded a farm of another woman, Christine Murembwe.
Chimene accused Murembwe of having benefitted from her association with Didymus Mutasa, a once extremely powerful Cabinet minister who was summarily dismissed from Zanu PF along with Mujuru in December 2014. All observers were reminded that there is no security of tenure in Zanu PF.
Chimene arrived at the farm with a motley group of youths, broke the gate on the perimeter fence and the doors to gain entry into the farmhouse. They then proceeded to throw every household item out of the house. Her weekend escapade was in total defiance of a High Court Order restraining her from such illegal action.
Those watching Muzvare Mandi performing at the Zanu PF headquarters were left in no doubt whatsoever that the days of the target of her excoriating attack — Mnangagwa — were numbered. It was apparent that, like Mujuru before him, he would soon be cast into political oblivion, that is assuming he doesn’t resign on his own, to depart from the scene with a semblance of whatever remains of his once honourable dignity.
Chimene’s actions are a threat not only to the welfare and security of the so-called leader of the so-called Lacoste faction — remember the so-called Gamatox faction, her riotous behaviour poses a flagrant menace to the entire nation of Zimbabwe and its peaceful but long-suffering citizens.
When citizens behave in public with such reckless abandon and with such shameful lack of self-restraint then even those who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of their dubious actions have every reason to get worried. I have every right to publicly rebuke my sister when she betrays the faith and trust reposed in her by the Maungwe people of Makoni.
I wish I could admonish Muzvare Mandi back in Nyazura. But she has publicly squandered that prospect.
“Ndaakunyara kutaura kuti ndinobva kwaMakoni”, one of her clansmen sardonically pointed out to me on Facebook this morning. This unsolicited intervention, while I crafted this article means: “I am now ashamed to reveal that I hail from Makoni.”
Geoffrey Nyarota is former editor of the Manica Post in Mutare, The Chronicle in Bulawayo, The Financial Gazette and founding editor-in chief of The Daily News both in Harare, as well as chairperson of the Information and Media Panel of Inquiry ( IMPI). He can be reached on [email protected]
