Reactions to Mugabe-Mujuru alliance

Published: 04 February 2018

There have been mixed reactions to a coalition of the wounded between former President Robert Mugabe and his former deputy Joice Mujuru, with some analysts saying it will have zero political impact, while some said the former Vice President would reap immense benefits.

This comes as political dynamics in the country appeared to have taken an intriguing twist when it emerged that Mugabe and Mujuru had not only smoked a peace pipe but that the former had also pledged to support the latter who now leads the opposition National People's Party (NPP) against President Emmerson Mnangagwa in this year's general elections.

The meeting had raised hope that Mujuru and her NPP will harvest political capital by taking on board vanquished members of the Generation 40 cabal, a group of young Zanu-PF members who had coalesced around Mugabe's 52-year-old wife, Grace.

University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred Masunungure described the meeting as "an innocuous meeting between someone agonising over the treatment he gave to his former ally and his victim."

"I don't think there is anything beyond the fact that it is normal that at that age, one would want to make peace with those he wronged, especially if it has become apparent that the punishment he meted out on Mujuru was unfair," Masunugure told the Daily News on Sunday.

"At that age, you would want to prepare yourself for the day your maker decides to take you and before that happens, one would want to make peace and I think that is what motivated the meeting of the two.

"At the moment, the G40 is dead and buried and I don't think the option to work with Mujuru is a viable one. It would be improper for anyone to impute a political advantage or loss from that meeting. Mugabe only wanted to repair the damage he caused after realising that he had been misled by other ambitious leaders in Zanu-PF," he said.

The former allies-turned-foes' meeting was the first time Mugabe had met an opposition leader since the expiry of the unity government in 2013 in which he shared power with Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC party and its splinter faction then led by Arthur Mutambara.

Another political analyst Maxwell Saungweme differed, saying Mujuru would reap immense benefits from the meeting with Mugabe on account of the fact that many in the opposition ranks who celebrated the military intervention that forced the 93-year-old despot to resign were a disappointed lot.

Saungweme said Zimbabweans had hoped that Mugabe's police State would be replaced by a more democratic government only to realise that the new Mnangagwa administration is worse off.

"I think many in opposition who celebrated the coup now realise their folly of replacing Mugabe and his police state with Mnangagwa and a military junta," Saungweme said.

"It's bad to say Mugabe is better but a choice between a police state and military junta is very revealing.

"You will recall even in the negotiations during the coup, Mugabe kept asking the military why they wanted Mnangagwa not Mujuru if it was about seniority.

"People are slowly realising that Mugabe, apart from his longevity and dictatorship, he averted a bloody transition by not resisting the military coup, so I don't see Mujuru's visit as anything that erodes her political capital."

Saungweme said even Mnangagwa still regards Mugabe as his father and that if he were to request a meeting with Tsvangirai or any one of his three deputies, they would also oblige.

"So Mujuru loses nothing by being endorsed by Mugabe. Instead, she will court G40s who are even being courted by other opposition parties."

It is understood a cross-section of opposition parties — among them the National People's Party (NPP) and the MDC Alliance — are engaged in secret talks with banished members of the Generation 40 (G40) faction as they seek to work on their weaknesses and outsmart a resurgent Zanu-PF at the forthcoming polls.

The MDC Alliance, which brings together seven opposition political parties, recently met in Bindura during a retreat and concluded that synergies should be built with G40 elements who are either in exile or face an uncertain future in Zanu-PF to give Mnangagwa's party a good run for its money.

And early last week, another meeting took place in Cape Town, South Africa, where G40 officials deliberated on sponsoring independent candidates and also forming partnerships in areas where the MDC Alliance or the NPP hold sway.

The talks are taking place either through emissaries for fear of blowing the cover on those G40 functionaries that are in hiding, or through informal channels — in the case of those Zanu-PF members who are on their way out because of their perceived links with Mugabe.

Civil rights activist and analyst McDonald Lewanika suggesting that Mugabe's ouster by the military last year and Mnangagwa's subsequent rise to the presidency was not a popular decision among die-hard Zanu-PF supporters below the provincial structures.

Lewanika warned that Mujuru would likely benefit from their disgruntlement saying "there is no doubt that in rural Zimbabwe many were left not only shocked but disturbed by the developments."

"These are the people, who are Zanu-PF members that the party must be wary of and which Mujuru can harvest from," Lewanika said.

"Politics is not about permanent friendships or enemies, it is about interests and if Mujuru and G40 and Mugabe's interests align, this can work to her favour, in the same way the Lacoste and G40 interests aligned leading to Mujuru's demise."

He, however, was quick to hazard that with the ruling party "highly regimented", it will not work if Mugabe does not play an active role to support Mujuru to get political pickings from his strongholds.
- dailynews