MUCK is confused, but not surprised. On July 4, The Herald of Absolute Truth, the modern-day Pravda ran a breaking news item titled: I have no intention of running for third term: President. The newspaper followed the story up with another one the following day titled: I will not extend my term: President.
Both stories quoted our owner saying: “Our constitution clearly stipulates that every five years we go to congress. We did our congress about five years ago. Every five years we go to congress and when we do that we elect a president. Our president is supposed to be in office for two five-year terms. I did my five-year term and we went to a congress and you elected me again.
“Now I’m doing my last five years and its towards the end of the term. I will go and rest. We will go to congress to look for someone else who will lead the party the way I’m doing. Do you hear that? My retirement days are near. I want to rest. We will go to congress to elect a person who will fit in my spirit of Munhumutapa. You hear that? I’m giving you a hint.”
To any right-thinking person, that is as unequivocal as it gets.
Until one analyses the statement, as one More Drink Coming party leader, Douglas Mwonzora did while participating in a debate to examine what our owner really meant.
Mwonzora alleged that our owner made no commitment to cancel his lease as the number one citizen of this great country, but only as leader of his Zany party and would likely seek to extend his lease even beyond the constitutionally permissible two terms.
“The opinion is that President Mnangagwa said ‘I am not going to run for a third term as Zimbabwean President’. That is not what President Mnangagwa said,” Mwonzora alleged.
“He said he would not stand again as a Zanu PF president. He did not talk of national presidency and this is where people are being taken for a ride.
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“If the President was of the opinion that he was ruling out running for national presidency, he would have said that. It’s not necessary that you be a president of a political party to be elected a president of a country.”
Critics were quick to pounce. Our owner, we were told, is a constitutionalist. The third-term narrative was created by the opposition to demonise our righteous and brave leader.
One daily newspaper was forced to apologise and issue a retraction for daring to report on Mwonzora’s analysis of the situation.
But in the same debate, the man appointed by our former owner, the late Robert Mugabe as his last Foreign minister before the army chiefs kicked him out, Walter Mzembi waded in: “Mr Mnangagwa has cleverly punctured the ball, so we are playing a deflated ball all of us, because he has taken the steam out of the debate by announcing that he will abide by the Constitution and depart the stage by 2028.
“However, the politics is speaking to a different ball game. Two fundamental questions arise whenever an extension is sought, whether legal or illegal, and in this case unconstitutional. You either have been playing the game very well to the enjoyment and satisfaction of your audience which then demands an encore that they want more of you or secondly, you are, as in the game of football, in a deadlock and then extra time determines the end result.”
The questions to ask: “Are we enjoying and satisfied with the incumbents tenure to the extent that we seek to extend his term and secondly, does he have unfinished business beyond 2028 meriting an extension?”
However, a day later, The Herald of Absolute Truth hit us with another headline: Chorus grows for President to stay on(!)
In it we were told: “There is a growing movement within Zanu PF structures and affiliates across Zimbabwe calling for President Mnangagwa to continue leading the country beyond 2028 to achieve Vision 2030. Despite Mnangagwa's indication that he will not continue past 2028 in accordance with the Constitution, the slogan "2030 vanenge vachipo" (Mnangagwa will still be in power in 2030) is gaining traction.
At a recent Zanu PF caucus in Parliament, legislators chanted "2030 vaMnangagwa vanenge vachitonga" (Mnangagwa will still be ruling in 2030). Similar sentiments have been echoed in District Coordinating Committee (DCC) meetings nationwide, where Mnangagwa's leadership is credited with transforming Zimbabwe, stabilising its currency, and restoring its status as the breadbasket of Africa.”
So, the grassroots politics in the Zany party is playing differently to the tune our owner is singing in public. Whether those that are singing are doing so of their own accord, Muck will not venture an opinion!
The Third Term is upon us, whether we like it or not. Several provinces of the Zany party have expressed their wish for our owner to extend his lease. The Zany party’s enforcer, Munyaradzi Machacha says he would deliver the groveling by the party faithful that our owner extends his rulership, highlighting the substantial grassroots support for his continued leadership.
So, when the time for congress in 2027 to choose the new owner comes, will the current landlord refuse the unsolicited offer’ or will he maintain his wish to go and ‘rest?’ He will be 84 years old by them.
Muck’s assessment, however, is that this will not end well. In the period leading to November 2017, our politics was stuck in a similar situation: A geriatric owner who really should have been counting stars at the gazebo on his farm hanging on to power while fawning party members pledged undying loyalty. He could even rule from the grave if he wishes, they told him.
His end was sad and the very people who were singing his praises were quick to stick knives in his back the moment the winds of political fortune changed
And Muck thinks our current leader should be minded to keep his promise to go and rest.
If he upholds the constitution and resists the temptation to pander to the Third Term Insurrectionists, his legacy would be secure in history. He would be the man who actually delivers democracy to this country.
So, the reports of an Air Zimbabwe plane being targetted by ground lasers while trying to land at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport are very disturbing.
Who was trying to cause the plane to crash while our owner was returning home from across Mozambique just before 19.00 hours on July 12?
Muck is still in shock that our owner had finally chosen to fly the national carrier at all, an airline he has pointedly ignored since assuming office in 2017.
It adds to the curious goings on in his family, including recent break-ins at the private home of his son Kudakwashe David, and the offices of his nephew, Tongai Mnangagwa in the past month.
