Elections anywhere reveal everything-clowns and conman.
Observers and analysts can unravel the many secrets coded in hank-dory political statements and cheap promises by politicians and I have been more fascinated by one Saviour Kasukuwere on the Zimbabwean elections radar.
He seems to have immeasurable amounts of patience to wait for half a decade to launch a Presidential bid after bolting into exile in South Africa.
He too seems to have the right dose of diplomatic finesse and etiquette to launch the bid from a neighbouring country when his birth country labels him a fugitive.
I only have two plausible scenarios that led to his emergence in the elections in August.
Firstly Kasukuwere is a defanged former stalwart in ZANU PF. He is cold outside the corridors of power.
And now his primary objective was to draw President Munangagwa’ s attention and ignite a discussion on his prolonged stay in exile- a preservative measure of his own life taking into account the political rift between the Lacoste team and the G40 that culminates in the coup of November 2017 that dethroned Robert Mugabe.
His Presidential candidature is not at all a genuine attempt to take power considering his protracted absence on the political stage. It is a desperate bid
at garnering attention from Munangagwa and a chance at reviving his dwindling political fortunes from being allegedly a Robert Mugabe favourite to the throne to a nobody in exile.
His challenge is simply a pot-shot at the leadership to kindly consider pardoning him for his sins and review his former contributions to the party in which he rose through the ranks to become the Zanu-PF party National Commissar.
Secondly, he is poised to leverage on the outcome of the vote for his political future going forward as seen in this statement.
“Zimbabweans must find each other through an Intra Zimbabwe Dialogue process beyond the politics of conquest predicated by our highly competitive and often toxic and disputed electoral politics. I intend to lead or to be an integral part of this constructive engagement process beyond this bid for the highest office.”
There you have it folks. Kasukuwere has set his sights beyond the election and is availing himself for national duty as it were for as long as the role has leadership elements to it, he is in, through the backdoor.
Previously, Zimbabwe has seen a grouping of vanquished Presidential aspirants except for Nelson Chamisa of the MDC- T then now CCC leader who refused to be part of POLAD(Political Actors Dialogue) that sought to exchange ideas on unity and a blue print for the country coming from national elections.
This was seen as an olive branch by the victors in Zanu-PF to bolster support for the leadership but apparently, it was a cheap way to console other losing political players and hoodwink them into oblivion. Most became docile and malleable toning down their criticism of government operations when given personal vehicles and government loans. They felt they had one shoe in leadership too.
To date, not a single achievement came out of POLAD despite its much-hyped formation. It was only a way for President Munangagwa to keep his political enemies close where he could monitor them at close range.
Kasukuwere seems poised for such a post-election outfit. He knows truly well his challenge will not gather an outright win based only on his purported support mainly from remnants of Mugabe followership that still lingers in ZANU-PF party.
Kasukuwere is a man with a mottled past of violence. Together with a band of his brothers, they are feared for their violent ways to assert their authority in his backyard of Mashonaland Central ie, Mt Darwin, Bindura, and surrounding areas.
The former minister is known to be an active aggressor of political violence participating in person unlike some ZANU- PF colleagues who directed acts of aggression from a distance.
Reportedly on the 25th of March in the year 2000, Kasukuwere, then a ZANU PF parliamentary candidate for Mt Darwin Constituency organised a 200-strong gang of youths and war veterans at Madondo Hotel. Armed with addresses of known MDC- T supporters, they went door to door beating up their targets.
After this raid many victims showed wounds and bruises to the face and all over the body. Assisting Kasukuwere in launching these raids was on war veteran known as Jacob Juma.
In the ensuing month in April, the gang plotted to kill known MDC-T chairman known as Taurai in Nembire ward.
Under the cover of darkness, the gang pounced on Taurai’s homestead, surrounded it, and set it on fire. Taurai tried to escape but fell into the hands of waylaying arsonists who attacked him with an axe all over the body. He was left for dead but a neighbour came to the rescue taking him to the hospital.
Kasukuwere’ s recent forays across the continent in Kenya to bolster support and dust up his continental image will not destroy his yesteryear dastardly deeds when in power that are known and well archived.
There have been allegations of him siphoning state coffers through the Community Ownership Share Schemes when he was Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment. It was a policy that sought to empower citizens from proceeds found in their communities such as minerals, and agricultural activities by enabling their full participation. But Kasukuwere put up for himself a 54- bedroom mansion in upmarket Harare instead. However, he is a man who has been largely involved in business in the energy sector but there is a sense he amassed so much wealth as proceeds of corruption and criminal abuse of office.
It is not strange that he recently admitted to making mistakes in the past and asked for forgiveness from the generality of Zimbabweans.
However, it appears Munangagwa has been caught off-guard unprepared to face an adversary who at one point was a bossom buddy literally. Reportedly, they privately shared high teas at each other’s residences in Hellensville before Munangagwa moved boardings to State House following his ascendancy to high office
Prior to the coup, in the public eye, they too shared podiums and ice- cream at party gatherings in camaraderie fashion pushing the Zanu-PF agenda of retaining power at all costs unbeknownst to each other that they all haboured Presidential ambitions.
Pictures abound of them in each other’s shadows as colleagues in the party, one a rising young star with zeal and energy, the other a venerated war veteran and decades-long Mugabe sidekick who had served as minister of defence, justice, state security in the latter’s cabinet.
Both considered Mugabe a benefactor and mentor too despite the late statesman insinuating Munangagwa lacked probity for the highest office.
Kasukuwere has many monikers including ‘Tyson’, Passenger 34 when he flew a kite from Johannesburg to Harare withdrawing at the eleventh hour to hoodwink his enemies in Harare. Some refer to him as “Paraquat” in apparent reference to a poison he allegedly force-fed opposition supporters when he was on campaign trails.
One thing stands out in his utterances, he does not have major issues with Zanu-PF and does want to destroy it but given half a chance would inherit it. He said “Our differences are not ideological’ but personal.
Reportedly now, Kasukuwere is accused of being a fugitive from the law as two pending warrants of arrest await him in Harare according to Police Spokesman Paul Nyathi. Nonetheless he maintains the dossiers are a non-event and have since been quashed.
Its going to be interesting either way as he grabs the bull by the horns landing in Zimbabwe to launch a campaign trail canvassing for votes.
His nomination through a representative and delegated spokesperson Jacqueline Sande, the chief election officer on the 21st of June in Harare was a Rubicon. There is no chance in hell that it is going to be business as usual in Zimbabwe pre and post 23rd August this year.
What happens next?
No one knows who exactly is in Kasukuwere’ s camp except for fellow exiled compatriot and former minister Walter Muzembi who is the delegated chair for the campaign.
Again, it is still shady on their modus operandi leading to the vote as well as demands or concession they will make should the team garner considerable votes in the coming plebiscite as an independent.
Neither Kasukuwere nor Muzembi have made utterances as to who supports and bankrolls them financially. What is beyond doubt is their untiring energy across social platforms declaring fearlessness and indefatigability in challenging ZANU- PF. They have gone easy on Nelson Chamisa, the main opposition figure leading the CCC mentioning they see him as a fellow compatriot and not an enemy.
In addition, a lot depends on whether ZANU- PF itself retains a majority leadership in a race against other 10 challengers with the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) threatening to scuttle the political order.
The spectre of a new mediator for exiled G40 kingpins looms large.
Love him or hate him, one cannot deny Kasukuwere, formerly a Mt Darwin lawmaker, has brought a fascinating twist to this election
It is also an election without the perennial presidential aspirant, the original ED, Egypt Dzinemunenzva, who for some reason has been quiet this time around.
It is again an election where ZEC, (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) the mother body overseeing the running of elections is being elusive with the National Voters Roll despite spirited attempts by opposition players to have this most integral part of the elections process freely availed for inspection by citizens. It is heavily discredited with allegations of going to bed with the ruling Zanu-PF party in a matrix of evil to rig and ensure continuity of power for the incumbent party.
But without a doubt, with Kasukuwere touching down in Harare anytime soon as reported, we are at the cusp of witnessing a sequel to the coup in November 2017 that toppled Robert Mugabe. For him going toe to toe with Zanu-PF in an election is tantamount to daring a lion in its den, brutal and relentless.
Image Credit: REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File photo
