IN the next few days, Zimbabwe’s political landscape may be redefined and possibly reshaped beyond the imagination of people.
With Zanu PF convening the much-anticipated national congress, so many men and women we have known and learned to either love or hate will be relegated to the sidelines.
There is a probability of the emergence of persons that are more loathed than loved by proponents of democracy.
Yet again it could result in a Zimbabwe that is less autocratic, one that embraces political tolerance and that allows people to openly state the desires and designs of their ambitions.
The pre-congress jostling and posturing of principals offers a sneak preview of what to expect at the main meeting.
Open hostilities among those who over the years collectively supped with the devil indicate a messy affair at congress. The violent nature of Zimbabwean politics is again rearing its ugly head.
Things are becoming clearer as to who have the most degrees and doctorates in violence. Zanu PF members cannot be denied their role as main inventors and purveyors of political violence in Zimbabwe.
People who portrayed themselves as united against the so-called regime change agenda are now at each others’ throats.
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Brute force like the one employed again Nkomo’s Zapu which was panel-beaten into submitting to a one-sided unity venture in 1987, is at play.
Zanu PF is employing the violent tactics it has been using against the MDC for the last fourteen years. Now comrades are plotting against comrades in an open feud wrought by the realisation that Robert Mugabe is not immortal after all.
Battlefields have been identified and Zanu PF foot soldiers are marching to war against Zanu PF. The party’s factions are formulating their own troop surge strategies in preparation for the final assault on the objective at congress.
In a theatre of nightmares near our political hearts merchants of violence will be trading their wares in a war declared courtesy of Mugabe’s selfishness and his uncontrolled intoxication with power.
Now that his political usefulness is coming to a screeching end, he needs to make sure that he has fingertip control of his successor, hence his fanning of factionalism.
If the naked truth be told in full, Mugabe is the so-called father of factionalism. Factionalism within his party suits him so well as it keeps his lieutenants busy fighting each other and not him.
Now time is no longer on his hands. He is old, tired and no longer the Mugabe who used to terrorise his opponents. He is now vulnerable to a point he needs protection from the enemies within his own party.
He is aware that he could spend the rest of his days in a filthy cell should the wrong person succeed him. He has to think twice or thrice before he settles for a successor.
He is aware that this cannot be put off for another year. The time for a puppet successor is now, yet who that person will be remains a dilemma.
In a futile attempt to settle the bothersome succession quandary, Mugabe is likely to kick-start the redefinition of the politics of the land by selfishly anointing a stooge as heir apparent. Mugabe’s choice of successor will be guided by a personal need of self-preservation.
He will obviously appoint someone who will defend the so-called Gushungo legacy and shield him from any messy divorce with the reigns of power.
In short, Mugabe will settle for a light-weight puppet whose strings he can pull even from his deathbed.
The puppet that Mugabe will settle for will be subject to immense criticism from within Zanu PF as well as from the entire opposition.
It is a foregone conclusion that whoever the appointee will be, that person will not muster total credibility from within Zanu PF.
There will be a lot of people from the scorned faction who will institute steps to sabotage the chosen one. It is possible that there will be very tense and fierce internal battles that will result in the core of the party rupturing beyond healing.
This could possibly be worse than the experiences of the opposition MDC which continues to fragment into tiny entities each vying to install a village idiot at the helms.
In the not so distant future, we may be feted by Zanu PF, Zanu PF (Super), Zanu PF (Superior), Zanu PF (so on) and Zanu PF (so forth).
The mainstream population will have many field days ridiculing and pouring scorn upon the puppet appointee in social media. New derisive yet witty terms will be coined as sarcastic tribute to the heir apparent.
Peasants will take breaks from their burdens to express their honest opinion about the unfolding melodrama.
Pseudo online anonymity will spur the population into active cyber political commentators. Even the wanted cyber terrorist Baba Jukwa will emerge from hiding to poke fun at the unfolding dramatic irony on succession.
Masola waDabudabu is a social commentator
