“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 anything stand in his way in consolidating his position and firm grip on power. Good book, good read. Rest in Peace Father Zimbabwe.
Why can’t Mugabe get it?
Former deposed President Robert Mugabe, has been making the headlines lately. For the first time after his ceremonious removal from power, the former president had chosen to remain silent for reasons best known to himself. In recent weeks however, Mugabe has treated those who care to listen with revealing dossiers of how unhappy and troubled he is after the military coup. During a recent interview, he lamented the unfair treatment by the current administration that range from ill-treatment of his wife, delay in pension pecks etc. The personal tragedy that befell Mugabe in November 2017 does not deserve sympathy but must constantly serve to remind him of the broader entrenched trend of repression, brazen disregard for democratic rights that his administration had normalized for the past 37 years.
His plea to regional groupings such as the African Union, SADC has fallen on deaf ears as it seems that no African leaders shares some sympathy for him. Today, the once seemingly invincible dictator who at one point described himself as the Hitler of the times, is detested and lampooned by the common man. His unconstitutional removal from power was well celebrated even by opposition parties. For many years, Mugabe’s legacy of tyranny and violence characterized Zimbabwean politics. Many opposition party supporters were killed in cold blood, maimed and killed by Mugabe as he continued his firm grip on power. The Mugabe that the citizens were accustomed to would abduct political opponents and rig elections. Today Mugabe cuts a lone figure in the wilderness and laments about people killed during the coup and the need to return the country to what he terms a “constitutional democracy”. These are the same things that he never upheld during his long tenure. The old dictator must now find a hole and hide out of shame and stop lecturing the country about democracy.
Enter NPF
Last week, a picture of Robert Mugabe, Jealousy Mawarire and Ambrose Mutinhiri went viral on social media and further confirmed media reports that Mugabe indeed was in support of the formation of a new political party, National Patriotic Front (NPF). While for now the structure of NPF is not yet known, the party only has a spokesperson (Mawarire) and former Minister of State for Mashonaland East Province, Ambrose Mutinhiri as its president. What remains unclear is why Mugabe chose not to be its president given that last year he had been endorsed by all the country’s 10 provinces as ZANU PF presidential candidate. Mugabe appears too careful to announce his decision to join or front a new political party. In a newspaper article recently, Mugabe revealed that Mnangagwa had promised to discuss with him an array of issues once he came back from a state visit to the DRC.Mugabe also knows that for all benefits that are due to him to be swift, he needs the cooperation of Mnangagwa so I don’t see him joining any opposition party.
The impact of the Official Secret act
Added to an array of problems for Mugabe is the archaic colonial-era Act; the Official Secrets Act [Chapter 11:09]. This Act was promulgated on 27 February 1970 by the minority colonial regime for among other purposes, “prohibit(ing) the disclosure for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) of information which might be useful to an enemy; to make provision for the purpose of preventing persons from obtaining or disclosing official secrets in Zimbabwe; to prevent unauthorized persons from making sketches, plans or models of and to prevent trespass upon defence works, fortifications, military reserves and other prohibited places.” The penalty for disclosure of state secrets under Section 4 of Zimbabwe's secrecy law is imprisonment for up to (20) years, a fine, or both.
Over the years, ZANU PF was hit by massive desertions as party cadres fell out of favour with Mugabe and subsequently fired. Many names such as Edgar Tekere, Margaret Dongo, Didymus Mutasa, Joyce Mujuru and more recently members of the G40 cabal. None of the above members at any point dared to expose the intricate details of how ZANU PF ran its affairs that kept it in power for so long. The only one who came close more recently was Didymus Mutasa who revealed that after the 2008 elections, he was on his was to his rural home to make room for an MDC-T government. While Joyce Mujuru has remained actively involved in opposition politics,she has failed to win citizens heart because of her failure cut the umbilical cord from ZANU PF and to provide firsthand information on how the 2008 elections were rigged given that she was the country’s Vice President.
All this owes to the fact that all these former cadres are away of the consequences of the Official Secrets Act in the event of it violation. As tyrant who had ruled for 37 years, Mugabe finds himself bound by the dictates of the Official Secrets Act. It is quite revealing that Mugabe was too general on revealing the statistics of people killed during the coup but only mentioned it in passing. This is because he is aware of the implications of this act and even more damaging is the fact that he presided over the killing of his political opponents since independence so making damaging revelations might implicate him in some of the atrocities committed by his government.
In the final analysis, Mugabe remains beholden to the whims and directives of the current administration. For now, he will desperately choose to hold to the little dignity he thinks he still has and try to use it as a trump card to convince Mnangagwa that he needs his blessing before the elections. For Mugabe. It’s a tough choice, if he chooses to become part of opposition, he risks serious persecution. The days ahead will be interesting
The writer, Rawlings Magede is a Pan Africanist and writes in his personal capacity. He tweets @rawedges and contactable on vamagede@gmail.com
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