Zanu PF missed opportunity for renewal

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa today presides over the conclusion of the Zanu PF 2023 conference in Gweru. However, the conference was a missed opportunity for the party to discuss its smooth succession plans for the first time since its formation in 1963.

Zanu PF has not experienced a smooth transition of power at the top since its formation. Leadership has been taken over through dubious machinations or outright putsch. In 1963, Ndabaningi Sithole was elected the first party president. He was to remain at the helm of the party until the infamous 1975 Mgagao Declaration.

The Mgagao Declaration was led by the military commanders at Mgagao camp in Tanzania. They wrote a declaration where they gave a litany of allegations against the leadership of Sithole and ousted him from the party, paving the way for Robert Mugabe to take over the mantle at the 1976 special congress in Mozambique.

Two things were clear at Mgagao. The military had breached the convention to subordinate itself to civilian leadership. They had become the power behind the throne. And the second and most important point, the Zanu constitution was reduced to a mere piece of paper in resolving internal party-political differences. Mugabe was to remain at the top for 41 years, until his ouster by a military coup in November 2017.

It has to be noted that Mugabe's ouster mirrors Sithole’s dismissal — both were engineered by men in fatigues and not civilians. Mnangagwa was the chief beneficiary of the coup. He is now the party and State leader. He has won two disputed presidential elections and in terms of the Constitution, his second and last five-year term ends in August 2028. This is the first time in Zanu PF’s history that a leader will have to step down from national office because the law says so.

There is anxiety nationwide whether Mnangagwa would respect the Constitution and walk away or he will tinker with the Constitution and extend his tenure. Alternatively, Mnangagwa is thinking like Vladimir Putin and that he would remain the most powerful man in Zanu PF and have a puppet leader of the Republic like Dmitry Medvedev.

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The options have one inherent problem — they do not augur well for stability and smooth transitions.

We do not need to look far in history to see this. South Africa has a powerful ANC that has been in power since independence in 1994.

No leader —Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma — completed two terms in office. They were all relieved of their positions within months of completing their two terms because of internal squabbles. Each time a president was removed the South African rand played a yoyo and the stock exchange crashed.

The party had to rework the population and international stakeholders that everything was okay in South Africa. Among the many issues that Zanu PF discussed at the conference which started in Harare on Tuesday, leadership transition was nowhere near the table.

 The Politburo and Central Committee did not find it worth their time or they were afraid to rock the boat. However, leadership transition is one thing uppermost among all important countries to Zimbabwe at the moment including China and Russia.

They have an interest in knowing who is the likely person to take over from Mnangagwa come 2028 or earlier. However, Zanu PF has learnt nothing and forgotten nothing as the boys in uniform continue determining who should be the leader. The civilian party members are mere window-dressing. The conference should have been the ideal platform to have the discussion on succession within Zanu PF.

It is a meeting of the members and they can discuss anything. It is the same platform where the party should be concerned about its longevity and sustainability. However, it is all missed by the party membership that pretends all is well and those who harbour leadership positions have to hide their ambitions.

Being ambitious is a crime within the party. The party like all the other years took the opportunity to parade and flaunt its wealth. Sport utility vehicles and luxury sedans were on display for all and sundry to see.

They all out-competed each other in praising Mnangagwa and their near two-thirds parliamentary majority. There was no discussion on why Zanu PF with a two-thirds majority in parliament between 2018 and 2023 failed to deliver on its electoral promises. There was no debate why the party broke with tradition and this year found it necessary to compete the general elections without a manifesto.

There was no discussion on why the government has failed to deal with the national currency question. They did not ask why after billions have been ploughed into agriculture Zimbabwe at the slightest scare of El Nino has sent out an SOS forfood aid.

There was no discussion on the National Development Strategy at the conference.The party is comfortable plodding ahead without evaluation of its programmes. For all its shortcomings in the past, the party has one scapegoat — illegal sanction by the West. It would be interesting to look at what issues or resolutions came from the districts and provinces.

What were the issues they needed the party to address? It seems no one in the districts and provinces have an independent mind and they all wait to be fed by the politburo.

It is such conferences that feed the speculation that Zanu PF is all about a one-party State and does not care about development. All they care to discuss is celebrating their victory against a hamstrung opposition. All they celebrate is being in power for the sake of it.

No one ever thought to discuss how President Mnangagwa has concentrated power in his office. Mnangagwa gave himself 13 pieces of legislation to control including the Interception of Communication Act, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Act and the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, making himself the emperor who hears everything, decides who gets arrested and how to invest all the national wealth. This was a lost opportunity to reposition the party and the country. 

Paidamoyo Muzulu is a journalist based in Harare. He writes here in his personal capacity.