Tendai Ruben Mbofana
In spite of several attempts at removing the party from power through democratic means, this has largely been unsuccessful.
Not because an overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans adore ZANU PF – but as aptly recorded by several election observer missions, the party has remained in office through brazen fraud, violence, and outright illegalities.
This was most evident in the August 2023 harmonized elections, which were flagged by respected regional and international bodies, such as SADC, as highly flawed and falling woefully short of acceptable democratic standards.
Ordinary citizens were intimidated into voting for ZANU PF through threats of violence, with the use of traditional leaders and the shadowy FAZ organization.
Entire villages were frog-marched to polling stations and made to vote in a particular way.
In the same vein, state institutions – such as the electoral commission, law enforcement, and state media – were quite opaque and unashamedly biased in their operations.
All these disdainful acts were recorded in various election observer mission reports.
As such, the ever-suffering people of Zimbabwe have to endure five more years of ZANU PF misrule – characterized by rampant corruption and gross incompetence.
This will only mean intensified untold poverty and suffering for millions – where already half the population are living in extreme poverty.
Since we may have to contend with ZANU PF for the foreseeable future, is there a way the same party can, at the very least, be transformed to make life a bit more livable for ordinary citizens?
I know it is a big ask and a tall order expecting anything good to come from the same people who have authored the indescribable impoverishment of the vast majority of Zimbabweans.
Indeed, ZANU PF may have already crossed the point of no return.
However, seeing how we have repeatedly failed to remove this party from power in multiple elections, we need to face reality and come up with practical short-term alternatives.
Refusing to accept that ZANU PF will be with us for the next five years, and possibly, many more afterward, is choosing to live in a fantasy world.
What would we have done differently from what we had been doing so far?
We may have to push for the change we want to come through ZANU PF itself.
Let us remember that politics is all about political power – its attainment and retention – and nothing else.
The only reason so many people, whether in the ruling elite or at the grassroots, will do anything to support and defend ZANU PF is to keep the party in power.
So, is there no way of appealing particularly to the grassroots and middle-level leadership of the party to reform their party from within?
Can we surely not reach the hearts and minds of those at the ward, branch, district, and even provincial levels of ZANU PF to make drastic changes to the party’s top leadership?
There is an urgent need for a leader who is chosen on merit and genuinely comes from the people.
Zimbabwe now requires a leader who has what it takes to move our country forward.
That way, these members will ensure that their party not only remains in power but, at the same time, improves the lives and livelihoods of the ordinary citizenry.
I am fully aware that this suggestion will not go down well with many who have become totally fed up with ZANU PF and who believe the only way forward for the country is getting rid of the ruinous party.
Indeed, I also completely agree with that assertion.
Nevertheless, as I have already eluded to, we have repeatedly failed in this endeavor.
Of course, we should never throw our hands in the air and give up.
However, this requires a paradigm shift in our thinking and strategies.
We can not keep doing the same things that have failed in the past yet expecting a different result.
That would be what renowned theoretical physicist Albert Einstein described as insanity!
In the meantime, though, we need to find ways of making life better for the majority of Zimbabweans – who can not take one more day of this misery and poverty.
Besides, should that not be the ultimate objective of any action we adopt?
Our politics must never be about individuals and personalities whom we want to see in power at any cost.
Everything should be about ending the suffering of Zimbabweans.
One of those measures could be for ZANU PF supporters and members taking a stand against their own leaders.
Are the grassroots in ZANU PF not suffering as well?
As a matter of fact, as the party boasts of massive rural support – a contended claim as proven by the use of mass intimidation in these areas – is that not where the poorest in Zimbabwe are found?
The greatest tragedy of Zimbabwe is that we are being led by a ruling party that has never known any internal democracy, especially in the choice of its president.
The only time there was any semblance of democracy was at the May 1964 Gwelo (now Gweru) congress where Ndabaningi Sithole was elected president.
This was only nine months after the party was formed, as a splinter group from ZAPU, on 8th August 1963.
From then onwards, there has never been any smooth transfer of power from one leader to the next.
Sithole was unceremoniously ousted by his own secretary general Robert Gabriel Mugabe in 1975 – in the form of a military coup, through the Mgagao Declaration in Tanzania by ZANLA forces.
Subsequently, Mugabe was toppled in a similar fashion by his long-term protégé, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, in November 2017 – again with the aid of the military.
In so doing, no ZANU PF leader has ever been chosen on the basis of merit but have come to power through pure brawn and the use of weapons.
The inevitable result has been the woeful incompetence that we have witnessed ever since the country gained independence in 1980.
At the same time, a leader who is clueless and has zero ideas on how to achieve anything positive will usually resort to crookedness and criminality.
Besides, anyone who does not believe can win a contest in a fair manner is ordinarily a dimwit by nature.
Added to this, a leader who comes to power through an undemocratic process, such as a coup d’état, does not feel accountable to anyone.
This inevitably leads to the unremorseful looting of national resources and grand mismanagement we watch in utter shock playing out in the country.
In fact, no wonder we are now seeing one family regarding itself as the owners of Zimbabwe!
Nothing good can legitimately be expected from such a leader.
That is why we find ourselves in this mess.
What ZANU PF now desperately needs is a total leadership renewal.
It will be a win-win for the party.
They will get themselves a new leader, purely based on merit – who can take Zimbabwe to dizzying heights of success – whilst at the same time endearing the party with the electorate and remaining in power.
Which genuine ZANU PF supporter would not want such an outcome?
It is time the rank and file, as well as middle leadership in ZANU PF, now demanded legitimately democratic elections in choosing their party president.
Any more coups should be viciously resisted.
This will then pave the way for fair contestation, which will usher in a competent leader elected on his or her abilities and competencies.
The result will be a national leadership that is genuinely averse to corruption and has what it takes to move the country forward.
For now, that is the only hope we have for Zimbabwe and our own welfare.
ZANU PF supporters now need to stand up against the dictatorship the party has experienced since the coup d’état against their first truly democratically-elected leader in 1975.
Such unacceptable leadership is what has not only destroyed the party but also the country as a whole.
These are the same leaders who have betrayed the ethos of the liberation struggle.
Is there still any hope for ZANU PF?
I really do not know.
The only thing I know is that we have suffered enough as Zimbabweans, and anything is worth a try.
- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/