Of course, Mugabe has always poked his nose, fingers and feet into judicial matters, the legislature and the executive since – but the recent congress played a very active role in worsening his political-personal arrogance.
Readers will remember that the congress was in itself a praise and worship bash that the Mnangagwa faction used to get closer to the centre of power. In order to do that, they placed Mugabe firmly in the centre, where he now sits with only his wife as company.
Regrettably, Grace is currently having severe health problems – that came hard on the heels of her whirlwind campaign to bring the centre of power closer to home. The congress resolutions reserved much space for Mugabe and his wife, showing full well that the Mnangagwa faction, which ran the show, was hell bent on concentrating power in Mugabe for now as a way of currying favour with him. The congress declared “unreserved loyalty to the President and First Secretary, Cde RG Mugabe, as the one centre of power and head of the Party and Government”. That sealed Mugabe’s status as a dictator.
Zimbabwe is suffering because of that. The biggest tragedy came with the concentration of power in one person. He has thus become the be all and end all of governance. That means the executive, judiciary and legislature are now mere rubber stamps.
They have collapsed beneath his fiefdom. Yes, they have rubber stamped his whims all along, but their fate as lame ducks has now been completely sealed. I doubt that the Constitutional Court will treat the Mutasa congress challenge with the fairness it deserves.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku might have publicly told politicians not to interfere with his estate, in apparent reference to Mugabe, and declared the Mutasa court application urgent. But I fear that may be as far as it will go.
Chidyausiku is a Mugabe appointee who enjoys his life courtesy of the president. It would be foolhardy for him to openly wrestle the man that feeds him. In that sense, his call for politicians not to interfere with the judiciary might be nothing but grandstanding. Mugabe, by making Chidyausiku the head of the bench, pays the piper and he calls the tune.
The tune, of course, will be very loud and lingering after the congress – which is when it became painfully clear to all and sundry that challenging Mugabe, or even showing signs of intending to do so, is a dangerous game.
The president – clearly with the aid of the Zanu (PF) weevils – came to believe that Joice Mujuru was out to get him and his throne. She had to be destroyed – and all those that were directly or secretly supporting her went with her. About a hundred MPs who have been linked to her are sitting uneasily today because they are not sure about their fate.
They must be watching over their shoulders all the time. They could end up as the loudest praise singers as they seek to placate Mugabe and the Mnangagwa faction so as to preserve themselves and their territory – including their ill-gotten gains from years on the gravy train. They know that Mugabe is the only centre of power in Zimbabwe and whatever is interpreted to undermine that is risky stuff.
Inevitably this means that whatever quality there might have been in their contributions in parliament previously has been compromised.
They can’t utter a single word without it being given a factional twist. That means they will either shut up completely while in parliament, or they will just be crowd followers with nothing of essence to contribute. More directly, the creation of one centre of power will affect parliamentary processes. – To comment on this article, please contact majonitt@gmail.com
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