AFRICAN EYE

Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe must be a happy man even in his “retirement”. Having been deposed through a military coup in November 2017, the former president has cut a lone figure at his blue roof mansion in the leafy suburb of Borrowdale. Months after his ousting, the former president vented anger and frustration describing the events of the November 2017 as unconstitutional. In the days leading to the 2018 elections, he shocked even those in ZANU when he appeared to endorse MDC Alliance Presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa when he gave an exclusive press conference highlighting that he was not going to vote for his tormentors. On Election Day he received a rousing welcome in Highfield when he went to cast his vote. All this was taking place against a background where Mugabe’s 37-year rule was marked by disappearances, extrajudicial killings and arbitrary detention. How people forget. What is even unfortunate is that in the current discourse, no one seems to a

Recently, ZANU PF National Political Commissar, Engelbert Rugeje gave an exclusive interview to the Herald where he was buoyant over the mobilization capacity of ZANU PF ahead of the 2018 plebiscite. He spoke at length about a “spider web” campaign strategy, a campaign that he said focused cells in a way that link them together just lie the spider does. However recent developments within ZANU PF primary election processes have exposed Rugeje as some losing candidates accuse him of rigging elections against them. After the shambolic primary elections, there was a lot of disgruntlement within ZANU PF. Among the disgruntlement were a section of war veterans who accused Rugeje of sidelining them. It even got worse as the politburo ordered a rerun of primary elections in some constituencies. The war veterans even sought audience with President Mnangagwa in Harare where they expressed the sidelining of war veterans who were aspiring for political office. By agreeing to meet war veterans

“I had once asked him directly, “What is the supreme organ in Zimbabwe? He had answered:” The supreme body in Zimbabwe is the central committee of ZANU PF”. I told him that could not be so: that the supreme organ of the country could only be its elected parliament”. This is the conversation between Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe contained in Joshua Nkomo’s book “The Story of my Life”. The conversation between the two was before the Gukurahundi massacres. It’s clear from the conversation that Robert Mugabe did not start acting outside the law later in his reign. What is even coincidental, is that the same Central committee that he branded as the Supreme organ is the one that recalled him from government in November 2017. After a careful reading of the book, the reader gets a deeper understanding of the person of Mugabe, his flaws and strength. The personal experience of Father Zimbabwe as he narrates suffering at the hands of Mugabe goes on to show how Mugabe would not allow anythin

This past week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited his “brother”, Joseph Kabila, the current illegitimate President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The visit by Mnangagwa was part of his regional adventure to brief his Democratic Republic of Congo counterpart Joseph Kabila on the transition that led to the end of former president Robert Mugabe's rule last year. According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, Mnangagwa held a closed-door meeting in Kinshasa with Kabila. Mnangagwa visit to the DRC comes after weeks of engagement with other regional countries such as Angola, South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. In understanding the intended purpose of Mnangagwa “closed door” meeting with Kabila, it will also be good to look at the deep-seated problems currently devilling the DRC. According to the country’s constitution, Kabila’s mandated term ended back in December 2016. However, his administration simply failed to organize elections and has embarked on variou

Cameroon today is engulfed in a crisis owing to the unresolved issues of devolution between Francophone and Anglophone states. The root of this problem may be traced back when political elites of two territories with different colonial legacies-one French and the other British-agreed on the transformation of a federal state.Unfortunately,such arrangement failed to provide for equal partnership of both parties and failed to appreciate the cultural heritage and identity of each but turned out to be a transitory phase to the total integration of the Anglophone region into a strongly centralized, unitary state.Eventually,this created an Anglophone consciousness: the feeling of being marginalized, exploited and assimilated by the francophone dominated state, and even by the whole francophone population as a whole. The ongoing protests in Cameroon over this have been met with violence and arbitrary arrests by the government but unfortunately this has failed to address the issues raised by p

While we were coming to terms with the reality of a military takeover in Zimbabwe on 15 November 2017, the new President of Angola, President João Lourenço was deviating from his predecessors’ stance on corruption and cronyism. He first fired the entire board of Angola’s state oil company Sonangol, including its chair Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former President Dos Santos. The adage of not biting the hand that feeds you rings true in Africa. The one who appoints might never disappoint as long as one plays cleverly to the whims and directives of the appointing authority. When Lourenco was appointed as successor by the former President, critics of the Dos Santos administration predicted that the new elect was going to continue where Dos Santos left and protect his interests. But alas, the new President has deviated from the set norm and has gone on to try and cleanse and usher in a new dispensation. Of interest the firing of 60 government officials and heads of the state diamond fi