Does the leopard change its Spots
Change is in the air in Zimbabwe. Suddenly it seems as if the old regime is in its last stages and new leadership is possible. In Zanu PF the succession race is wide open following the effort by Mr. Mugabe to ensure that no one close to him has any ideas about a controlled and negotiated transfer of power while he is alive and capable to running the State. The main casualty of this has been Mnangagwa who spent most of 2014 trying to get himself into the lead position on the succession. Instead he finds himself back in the pool of aspirants surrounded by crocodiles.
Elsewhere in Africa and abroad transitions are underway every day – in Tanzania we have just seen the ruling Party pass the baton of leadership, smoothly and without disruption to a capable successor. Coming on top of a decade of solid growth, this is real progress. In China last year we saw how it’s done in that country, no debate, no real democracy but the decision behind closed doors that a new team was needed and agreed.
Here there is just a stubborn insistence on remaining President for life, no matter what the state of the country or the consequences for those who will be left behind when you do finally depart for other realms. Even so the jockeying is intensifying and yesterday I was witness to a convoy of vehicles that I was astonished to find was conveying Minister Chombo. I know he is Minister of Home Affairs but does that justify two top of the range Mercedes, two brand new BMW sedans as a police escort and other vehicles carrying security aides? I know he regards himself as a successor – but why the Presidential type convoy now?
Then the opposition ranks were suddenly enhanced this week by the final emergence from hibernation of the former Vice President Mujuru. She came out and stated she was joining in the new Party called the People First and at the same time they came published a manifesto called “Build”. Very bold and a faithful reproduction of MDC policies that have been around for 15 years. Astonishing, she is going to abolish POSA and AIPA – bills that we have been calling for repeal for some years.
So we now have at least 36 registered political Parties – what a wealth of choice, but it’s very deceiving, the reality is that our choices have narrowed down dramatically in the past year. In 2013 in my constituency we had 7 political Parties contesting for my seat. In reality it was really a two horse race – Zanu PF and the MDC T. In the end I doubt if the 4 minor players attracted more than 7 per cent of the vote – over 70 per cent went to my Party and Zanu PF took the balance.