Why Zanu-PF is dangerous for Zimbabwe

0Shares

Zanu-PF is afraid. Extremely afraid.

They have been afraid since 1979 at Lancaster when it appeared to them Joshua Nkomo, Father Zimbabwe, was going to go into the elections as leader of the Patriotic Front. They were extremely afraid of ZIPRA, a military force that even the Rhodesians were scared of. Zanu-PF fear was further fueled by the selfishness of it’s leaders. Their fear drove them into paranoia driven selfish decision making that has cost our nation dearly ever since.

Zanu-PF’s fear of losing the 1980 elections made them do two clear things that we still haven’t recovered from ever since. They Nicodemusly withdrew from the Patriotic Front to contest the election as Zanu-PF. Not sure how ZAPU and the electoral authorities were going to respond they took a decision to leave almost half of their armed ZANLA combatants out of assembly points to intimate the electorate into voting for Zanu-PF. The rest is history.

The first Zanu-PF government still felt too insecure, knowing they had cheated their way into the 1980 victory they pushed for a one party state system. This was a decision driven by fear and obvious knowledge of their vulnerability at the polls. Their only solution was to pulverise the biggest opposition party of the day, PF ZAPU and its leader Joshua Nkomo. It was a decision that was effected through what we call Gukurahundi, and was effectively designed to secure victory before the 1985 General election. They’ve always been scared of a free and fair contest.

With no real opposition to talk about for the next decade there was relative quiet on the political front. The likes of Tekere, Dumbutshena and Dongo were never regarded as serious threats. But even then, violence was used when Simon Muzenda’s Gweru Central Constituency parliamentary seat was under threat from Patrick Kombayi. The later was shot and left for dead. His shooters we pardoned by none other than Mugabe and in fact Kizito Chivamba ended up a Zanu-PF MP for Chiwundura.

When the labour movement joined hands with students, civic society and farmers as the MDC in 1999, a real threat had emerged.

What followed was a well orchestrated campaign of violence to destroy the MDC support and financial base. We have not recovered from that selfish destruction of agriculture and related industries. We have countless lives lost due to the morbid fear of Zanu-PF to lose every election.

Demolitions, done in the name of correcting urban planning irregularities, which are often sponsored by Zanu-PF around election times, are just another affront to the dignity of suffering Zimbabweans. In fear of losing elections Zanu-PF sponsored illegal settlements. Less than five years later, the same Zanu-PF brings bulldozers to raze down those settlements in the name of cleaning up the cities, before setting up new informal settlements again.

Why? This is all because of their morbid fear of losing elections. They do not see any constituency as their stronghold, hence their constant resort to threats against voters everywhere.

Why? This also because our election process does not allow staffing of ballot boxes anymore. Elections rigging, as they would like to have the electorate believe plays a huge roll in elections outcomes in Zimbabwe, is an insignificant matter. They want you to believe that myth so you are discouraged from voting. And yet everytime they win with very narrow margins, which scares the hell out of them, …. so a huge voter turnout scares them out of their skins, and they will do every thing possible to make sure those not on their register of members are discouraged from voting at all cost.

Why? Essentially because they can’t rig elections on polling day, hence the vicious approach in the lead up to elections. Their goal is to discourage so many of you from voting while they physically drive their own supporters to vote to maintain their very narrow electoral margins.

They’re so scared of losing elections that in 2017 they engineered a coup when they realised Mugabe was going to lose with a landslide. The rest was drama to keep you intertained . The coup’s sole purpose was to avert an electoral drubbing.

Let us not just scare them as they are scared of us already. Let us make their fear come true.

Register and vote in 2023. Zimbabwe deserves better. Zanu-PF’s morbid fear has become an albatross on Zimbabwe’s development agenda

–– Sunday Reflections with Alliance for the People’s Agenda