Tragic and disheartening. These words are an apt summation of political gamesmanship playing out on the Zimbabwean election’s scene.
Exiled Zimbabwean presidential candidate Saviour Kasukuwere had his nomination thrown out of the election race by the country’s High Court on a technicality that he was not resident in the country for at least 18 months.
The court case had been set in motion by Lovedale Mangwana, from the prominent Mangwana family that has Ndabaningi ‘Nick’ and Paul a reputable lawyer who co-authored Zimbabwe’s Constitution on top of being a former government minister of Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment in Mugabe’ s Cabinet. He later left the Economic Development post to pave the way for the then-young turk Saviour Kasukuwere.
Nick who is often the butt of many jokes for his little grasp of national issues and insensitivity to the suffering masses holds dual citizenships for Zimbabwe and Britain. A trained nurse-cum-spin-doctor, he is currently the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services. His family resides in Britain having survived a countrywide petition lodged with the UK leadership to have them deported back to Zimbabwe on grounds that Nick is inconsistent and inconsiderate by aiding a failing administration in Harare while his family enjoyed cheese and caviar, comforts of another country.
Nonetheless, the Kasukuwere ruling is uncharted territory in the history of elections since the birth of the country from colonial rule in 1980.
It is a first and never has a presidential candidate been disqualified after nomination since the advent of multi-party politics under Robert Mugabe.
The nomination process came at a price literally costing an arm and a leg.
Other smaller parties and independent players could not afford the US$ 20 000 for a presidential entry into the race.
Zimbabwe goes to the poll on the 23rd of August and the nomination court was held on 21 June.
Kasukuwere who is based in Johannesburg, South Africa filed his candidacy through a representative Jaqueline Sande in Harare.
The man dubbed ‘Tyson’, ‘Paraquat’, and ‘Passenger 34’ is the only one aspiring for the top job resident outside the country.
In many respects, the court ruling earlier this week was a blow below the belt for the former political commissar of Zanu-PF that President Munangagwa now leads.
Of course, it is the fiduciary duty of the country’s courts to ensure the election is run above board with no legal shortcomings but the Kasukuwere court order to have him removed from the ballot paper has cemented arguments that President Munangagwa is now using a potpourri of legal status in the books to fight off political foes.
Noteworthy is the recent unashamed gesture by the government to extend generous loans, vehicles, and vast farmland to top members of the judiciary, ie, judges, prosecutors, and magistrates.
The move was seen by many as palm greasing, a subtle way to assert influence on how political matters are handled in the country’s courts.
It is no surprise when magistrates and judges do the bidding of the master who happens to be President Munangagwa himself.
It is a foregone conclusion they always find loopholes to deliver favourable outcomes.
For Kasukuwere, the ruling effectively shatters his dream of a political comeback into the Zimbabwean leadership structure as well as his physical appearance on home soil.
It must be noted he left Harare in a huff in the aftermath of the so-called ‘bloodless coup’ of November 2017 that sought to remove ‘criminals’ around the late President Robert Mugabe. He has a family, a sprawling 54-bedroom mansion, a business empire, and a farm in the country. He came back briefly only to flee again in the wake of the Bulawayo bombings that claimed the lives of two security personnel guarding Zimbabwe’s leadership.
Top officials escaped from the melee but many sustained bruises from shrapnel with Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri incurring injuries to the breasts while then Vice President Kembo Mohadi got hit on the back and legs.
Immediately in the aftermath Kasukuwere’ s house was ransacked by police detectives and it was a harbinger of worse things to come. He was the number one suspect and he realised circumstances had changed for him. Hurriedly, he traveled incognito back to his base in Johannesburg with immigration officials at Zimbabwe’s ports of entry not recording his passage.
Kasukuwere and his campaign chair, Dr Walter Muzembi were key figures in a Generation 40 ( G40) camp that sought to take away the reins of power pushing for Mugabe’s wife Grace Mugabe’ to be the leader both in Zanu-PF and government.
The grouping had youngsters in government and was going against the grain-throttling dreams of remaining ageing veterans of the country’s struggle against imperialist Britain who also wanted their in power slicing the national cake.
In addition, the surprise court order has left Kasukuwere’ s followers confused and bewildered regardless of his calm demeanour and assurances that he will fight and exhaust all avenues to be included in the elections to the very end.
Allegedly, Kasukuwere has immense support in the security sector where he is said to have a colorful background as a trailblazing spy.
He is also keen on appeasing the late Mugabe followers who still have a soft spot for him as a worthy successor to the late strongman.
On the other hand, Kasukuwere’ s participation has been welcomed in opposition circles as it would definitely add to the division of votes amongst competitors making it difficult for Zanu-PF to garner an outright win.
Kasukuwere, had been expected to land in Harare anytime to kick-start a bruising campaign against governing party, Zanu-PF and leading opposition challenger Nelson Chamisa of the Coalition of Citizens for Change (CCC), Douglas Mwonzora of the MDC-T who is largely seen as a Zanu-PF appendage among other seven little-known political outfits.
Now if the event of the nullification to contest holds water in light of the pending appeal at the Supreme Court, the Zimbabwean election is a confirmed two-horse race mainly pitting aging Munangagwa(75) against long-standing challenger Nelson Chamisa(45) who resonates widely with the country’s urbanites, diasporans and the youths.
The opposition has been battling tooth and nail for a raft of reforms that also sought to have the diaspora vote. However, the Zanu-PF leadership could hear none of it.
It is widely assumed most eligible voters in the diaspora who fled Mugabe’s tyranny and the economic meltdown that continued under President Munangagwa are pretty much against the stablishment.
Allowing a diaspora vote would mean Zanu- PF can reform itself out of power.
The forthcoming poll is definitely a defining moment for Zimbabwe as it battles a plethora of challenges.
These include corruption, a dilapidated healthcare system, unemployment, bureaucracy, an education system going to the dogs with teachers forever on strike over paltry salaries, pensions eaten away by inflation, an economy in the doldrums, an unstable currency, and regional integration.
Zimbabwe is currently a Biblical leper of the region overlooked in international business and always treated as second class at world fora and there is need for reintegration back into the community of nations.
Since coming into power, President Munangagwa has been trying without luck to rejoin the Commonwealth, a grouping of mainly former British colonies.
Zimbabweans have been forced to seek economic opportunities in neighbouring countries where they struggle to make a living under refugee status.
Nonetheless, in spite of spirited efforts vying for the Presidency, is Savour Kasukuwere a true ‘ Saviour’ of the people?
No. I doubt his sincerity. Everything he promises should be taken with a pinch of salt. He is still the same brutal, shamelessly greedy, ambitious man forced into exile. Him bad-mouthing President Munangagwa is confirmation of a personal tiff between the two, not that he has any qualms with re-joining the Zanu-PF gravy train when proffered half a chance. Kasukuwere comes across as a bitter looter who currently has no space at the feeding trough.
History will always remember him as a man who committed ghastly atrocities on the people around Mashonaland Central, his home ground. There is no way he can shrug off that violent past and be a trusted born-again politician. The mere mention of his name sends shivers down people’s spines.
Recently he chillingly disparaged main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa stating: “We are closest to Emmerson than Nelson” in pure admiration of Zanu-PF ways than the opposition.
Pie in the sky
More so, he literally had been frothing at the mouth promising all who care to listen to a US$ 1 Billion Gukurahundi Compensation Fund that seeks to redress past mistakes that saw ethnic killings of an estimated 20 000 Ndebele people in Matebeleland, a region taking much of the western half of the country.
Their sin was for want of autonomy as a people under the leadership of the late Father Zimbabwe Joshua Nkomo.
They were labeled dissidents and Nkomo himself survived assassination attempts by a cat’s whisker. History says he had to cross over into Botswana wearing a dress when soldiers came for his blood.
Mugabe’s government sent a Korean trained 5th Brigade commandeered by the late former Air Force Marshal and Sandhurst-trained Perrance Shiri nicknamed ‘Black Jesus’. Always high on whisky and extraordinarily callous, he is reported to have been exemplary in dispensing the most callous of killings even betting on the gender of unborn babies before bayoneting their mothers.
President Munangagwa was the defence minister during the atrocity and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was a commander in charge of logistics stationed in Bulawayo, the second-largest city and central hub of the Matebeleland region during the operation.
Gukurahundi has been a stain on the national conscience and the late Mugabe himself admitted it was a ” moment of madness”
There have been commission after committee to look into the matter, mend fences and seek redress but nothing solid has been done thus far to pacify and appease the victims who feel so strongly about the senseless killings.
No sensible apology has been given and what’s worse, the perpetrators are still roaming scot-free.
US1 Billion is too farfetched a figure for a country like Zimbabwe that struggles to provide painkillers in public hospitals. Even rookie economists would dismiss it as simply a pie in the sky.
That said, it is no surprise Kasukuwere ran a terror group against competing politicians and stamped down on dissent heavy handedly. Violence is in the DNA of Zanu-PF.
Him getting into power is getting more of the same from Zanu-PF. His nullification is a case of him being hoist by own petard.
Kasukuwere was part of the Zanu-PF structure for far too long and was significantly instrumental in building the behemoth of law architecture that has for ages been used to thwart and hamper the flourishing of opposition politics.
Under Mugabe’s time, laws such as the draconic Public Order and Security Act(POSA) that put a cap on citizens’ gatherings to less than ten at a time and more than that to seek police clearance; the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) that heavily curtailed media freedoms.
In typical fashion, the government recently enacted the Patriotic Act that seeks to punish or even impose a death sentence on citizens on flimsy allegations of disobedience to the State.
The same laws Kasukuwere enjoyed being a potent tool trained at the opposition are now a hamstring on his presidential dream.
For him, he has to remember the law is a foolish mistress that knows no loyalty.
Lest we forget, an estimated 6 unarmed civilians were killed by the soldiers in Harare in 2018 for protesting against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for its lackadaisical approach in announcing vote results to the electorate.
Nothing has been done to the perpetrators despite recommendations by a commission of enquiry led by former South African caretaker President Nkgalema Mothlanthe.
Despite his newfound allegiance to the people, Kasukuwere cannot be the answer to the many challenges facing Zimbabwe, he was part of the system that gave rise to unprecedented levels of poverty on citizens.
Even now Zanu-PF, his former party has come out guns blazing saying he is a thug in light of his candidature. What irony? It is astounding.
He is one man who helped entrench Zanu-PF’ s grip on power by abusing the advantages of incumbency. Zanu-PF abuses state power such as police, state resources such as vehicles, the national broadcaster ZBC, newspapers in the Zimpapers Stable, and an electoral body ( ZEC) that panders to the whims of those in power.
Ordinarily, there is no way elections can be free and fair when opposition figures are denied a free pass to campaign.
Zimbabwean police have powers to greenlight political gatherings. Only last week on Sunday, police cancelled the CCC main Rally in Bindura at the eleventh hour on flimsy excuses the venue had no proper roads for access and toilets to use.
This was a glaring attempt by President Munangagwa to scuttle and frustrate the opposition campaigns using the law and State apparatus.
Zanu-PF’s abuse of power has happened often enough in the country, without hindrance whatsoever. In another instance, firebrand opposition figures Job ‘Wiwa’ Sikhala and Jacob Ngarivhume have been languishing in prison on allegations of inciting violence.
Sikhala, a trained lawyer and lawmaker had been the most forbidding voice from the opposition who shot from the hip at the leadership in powerful speeches at rallies.
On top of his candidness, Sikhala had become so popular with the grassroots for his chutzpah even calling President Munangagwa an ‘alligator’ and openly declaring he was not afraid of detention.
On the contrary, he had to be silenced somehow and when he sought to represent the family of slain Moreblessing Ali of Chitungwiza by a thug who has been a Zanu-PF member, Wiwa was arrested and detained in the ensuing violence on grounds they had been the instigator, allegations he denies.
However, Sikhala had been languishing in prison for months on end on a raft of other trumped-up charges unable to look after his many children and campaign for his beloved CCC party that he so dearly cherishes.
Should Wiwa come out after the vote in August, he won’t be a lawmaker in Parliament, a blessing in disguise for Zanu- PF that detest his courageous politics.
His protracted detention and now Kasukuwere’ s disqualification is a huge stain on the country’s psyche, international image, and efforts to rejoin the Commonwealth.
Zimbabwe is at a crossroads, with an option to either go remain with the old, corrupt, dysfunctional Zanu-PF or choose a different path that has an injection of new blood in leadership structures.
It goes without saying Zanu-PF has been inconsistent, unremarkable, and incompetent. When one cannot do its bidding, they are quickly labeled a baddie.
And in toto, it is apparent the President has been akin to a tortoise on a lamppost with a willing and malleable judiciary ever ready to carry out his hatchet jobs.
That is my view, what’s yours?
Image Credit: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters
