just saying: Paul Kaseke
One of the most fascinating things that I have observed about most (not all) Zimbabweans is our focus span or rather our lack of it.
This is perhaps why it has been easy for Zanu PF to get away with its shenanigans for this long.
We quickly forget what the majors are and focus on the minors. When we do focus on the majors, we easily get distracted by irrelevant things that serve no purpose in the bigger scheme of things or that are meant to ensure that we forget to hold the correct people accountable.
The oldest trick in politics is divide and rule and this was perfected under former President Robert Mugabe’s administration.
The current dispensation continues to play the divisive games to diffuse anger and cause more division.
Naturally, the first serious target of any divisive tactics will be the main opposition, since it holds a significant command of influence in the country.
That the Constitutional Court declared President Emmerson Mnangagwa the legitimate leader does not change the fact that, according to Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)’s own revised figures, the MDC Alliance is a serious force on its own.
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It may not have been enough to secure the highest office, according to those results, but it does not change the significance of the support the MDC holds. That being said, Zanu PF would be foolish to ignore this.
This is why as history repeats itself, the ruling party through its many mouthpieces, including some media houses, will seek to divide the opposition and if the opposition is not awake to this reality, the divide and rule tactic will once again win.
It is common knowledge that the MDC is due for a congress this year and positions, including the party’s top positions, are up for grabs.
Strangely enough, there is more noise coming from the ruling party’s supporters about the opposition party’s congress, but even more bizarrely, there is a deliberate choice of candidates from the same quarters.
The common theme among ruling party supporters is that they would prefer current secretary-general, Senator Douglas Mwonzora to assume the presidency over Nelson Chamisa, citing his maturity and stability as reasons for this.
This, of course, has drawn fierce criticism from pro-Chamisa supporters and has essentially created two camps in the party — one supporting Mwonzora and the other, Chamisa.
The problem, however, is that it is not a Zanu PF congress, it is an MDC matter, so one should ask what is the motive behind all this?
The game plan seems to be to pit the two against each other and cause divisions before the congress that will produce a bitterly contested process, which will leave the party weakened.
This will work out in this way: By endorsing a candidate, the ruling party is effectively creating the impression that it would rather contest X, but then again the logical implication is that they would choose a candidate they either have control over or believe they can win comfortably against.
As the logic goes, this is the kiss of death that reveals that the preferred candidate is working for the ruling party. This is the kind of logic that prompted Mnangagwa to hastily put together a video for circulation on social media when Mugabe endorsed Chamisa before the 2018 election.
The conspiracy that the preferred candidate has to be in bed with the ruling party does not necessarily have to be true, but that’s the point — that is what they would want us to believe.
The power of this kiss of death is not the truth underlying the theories, but the impression it will create even if it is a mirage.
The intended aim of the kiss of death in this case would seem to be to weaken the MDC.
A weakened MDC is, of course, a blessing to Zanu PF, because the party will govern unchallenged and sail through its raft of intended legislative enactments with little opposition from its biggest challenge, the MDC. A weakened MDC is, however, a threat to democracy, which is why it must be left to pursue its democratic processes internally and encouraged to rally behind whoever wins.
A united opposition is better placed to challenge the autocracy and mediocrity of the ruling party.
Any healthy democracy is strengthened by the existence of a robust, united and strengthened opposition.
Readers will recall that between 2013 and 2018 the opposition was not united and spent most of its time pursuing internal power struggles, which weakened it immensely, thus allowing the ruling party to continue with its own agenda. History could repeat itself if the MDC plays to the tune of the music played by the ruling party.
They particularly want the contest to become bitter not because it creates enemies out of the candidates, but rather it creates enemies out of the supporters.
The ultimate aim of this sudden interest in MDC internal affairs is not to create enmity between Chamisa and Mwonzora and I doubt they would fall for this, since both are experienced and seasoned politicians.
The ultimate target and aim are the supporters.
No party can survive when its leaders are divided, but no party can exist with divided supporters.
The word of caution to the MDC is simple: The ruling party may have changed party leaders, but it is still the same cunning, deceitful, tactful and divisive party that would love to remain in power at all costs.
Moving away from the MDC, Zimbabweans in general must be weary of this very same tactic. We must always remember that government itself will often divert our attention from major things so as to avoid drawing attention to its failures.
The so-called Queen Bee saga comes to the top of my mind. These conspiracies have the effect of removing the target of attention to the wrong and in this specific case, non-existent people.
It’s almost comical that a significant number of people believed that corrupt officials have looted and acted under the dictates of a terrifying business man, who very few people knew of before the revelations that later turned out to be false.
Again, the focus was diverted from government failure and directed elsewhere.
