The Sunday Mail
Teddie Bepete
Frenetic media headlines such as, ‘’Mugabe throws Mnangagwa under the bus’’ and ‘’Mugabe ready for the kill’’, are not for the good of the country.
The hearse bearing the corpses of the two dead and shameless factions was for all to see at the Eighth Presidential Interface Youth Rally in Bindura.
And the epitaph was boldly inscribed by His Excellency when he equally denounced both sides angling to succeed him through clandestine means that are no good to the well-being of the revolutionary movement.
President Mugabe’s trailblazing Youth interface Rallies have been a microcosm of the revolutionary movement’s show of strength and confidence as the country prepares for harmonised general elections expected next year.
They have also revealed that His Excellency is still the effective captain of the ship with the constitutional and political bearings pertaining to succession still in his clasp.
The writing was on the wall for both factions, and the wicked goddess of factionalism or successionism must still be smarting from the unprecedented and expeditious juggernaut.
Apart from articulating and pronouncing the need for a cessation of factionalism, the President also showed the world that he is in the know about democracy when it comes to choosing a leader and that the process should be done simply within constitutional parameters.
He also emphasised to the estimated 100 000 crowd that leadership of the country cannot be won by subterfuge and that the constitutionality of succession has to be respected to the full.
As we approach 2018, it has become imperative for Zanu-PF to unite for a crushing victory against a miscellany of moronic opposition coalitionists led by a waning Morgan Tsvangirai.
Therefore, the timing of the funeral of factionalism in Zanu-PF is most welcome.
Nonetheless, certain malicious media outlets went on the rampage for the wrong reasons.
Their effort was to downplay the President’s siege on factionalism by sensationally portraying it as an attack on VP Mnangagwa.
The reports were a mischievous attempt to stir dissatisfaction in Zanu- PF.
It was a gross attempt to paint a dreary mise-en-scene at a time we are promoting peace and stability.
President Mugabe became a luminary in history because of his shrewd and principled ways.
That was the course he sought to pursue at Chipadze.
It was a surgical trial of the whole concept of factionalism and a tribunal for all factionalists, including the dead and living.
He showed this quality as he dismissed G40 by warning that Zimbabwe was not USA where Obama won because he was in the generation of those in their forties.
And the President also chided Lacoste, ‘’Kana chiri chi cup chirasei. Chokwadi munhu angada kufira chi cup”, in reference to the controversial “I’m the Boss” coffee mug.
President Mugabe did not take sides or ratchet in a favoured direction. The whip descended at random and both factions received an equal share of rebuke. A true revolutionary need not be pliant to outside forces.
It is this principled character that is the fulcrum of President Mugabe’s statesmanship.
And it is his duty to impart it to his lieutenants, expected to steer the party in future. There is need for tolerance and mutual trust if unflappable unity is to be achieved.
Over and over again, the President has advocated the spirit of forgiveness, urging party members to let bygones to be bygones.
Robert Frost once said about forgiveness, ‘’Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense.’’
In simpler terms Frost was urging people to always eat humble pie, to be apologetic even though one is right, as a yardstick for greatness.
Frenetic media headlines such as, ‘’Mugabe throws Mnangagwa under the bus’’ and ‘’Mugabe ready for the kill’’, are not for the good of the country.
They are meant to portray a situation that is already out of control.
That kind of reportage reeks of pessimism and melancholy, a country cannot go forward on the wave of perceptions of doom.
The President’s remarks were a milestone inasfar as the throttling of divisions is concerned.
He was whipping his second in command to toe the line for the good of the party, and stop unbidden interaction with people deemed rebellious and whose conduct would end up damaging the VP’s reputation.
For sure, a tried and tested cadre whose pilgrimage to the cause has always been unquestionable should not be seen tainted by recreant renegades such as Victor Matemadanda.
He should not be in the company of felonious characters such as Energy Mutodi, characters whose lust for money makes them potential criminals.
Otherwise VP Mnangagwa was being told judiciously to keep his unalloyed personage and be in the modus solitaire so as to avoid harm from enemies.
Ostensibly, who would doubt that Energy Mutodi and his wicked cup might have been a reactionary agent up to brew a storm between VP and His Excellency?
VP Mnangagwa was the major sacrificial lamb on the beheading of factionalism because of his long history of service and subservience to the President, therefore a key pillar to the perpetuation of the party’s values and a major disciplinarian.
It is in retrospect and respect of VP Mnangagwa’s loyalty and comradeship to His Excellency that our youths are keen to learn about duty and discipline.
As we endure to preserve peace and prosperity in the country, perhaps we have to revisit the indelible impression of the Unity Accord and draw lessons from it.
Following independence, the country was threatened with instability in some regions.
However, in December 1987 two principals entered an entente that found the cessation of years of turmoil in Matebeleland and Midlands provinces.
That was Cde Mugabe and Cde Dr Joshua Nkomo.
The Unity Accord was a pact signed on the script of patriotism, rationality and humility, not avarice but allegiance to the founding values of our liberation and forthrightness in terms of ideology.
This is certainly the time to bury the hatchet for the two factions and face reality as was done in 1987 so that we chart our way into the future.
The siblings, G40 and Lacoste, have to understand that they cannot last without one another.
We want to believe that these pronunciations by the President will not be taken for a hoax.
There is need for sincerity by our leaders, even though this is a game of doubles. Since the Year of the People’s Power, President Mugabe has emphasised the need for unity so as to foster development.
He said in his victory speech, ‘’Indeed, let this enjoin the whole of our nation to march in perfect unison from year to year and decade to decade towards its destiny.
“We have abundant mineral, agricultural and human resources to exploit and develop for which we need perfect peace, our endeavours to transform our society and raise our standard of living are bound to succeed.’’
So, a befitting memorial service for the deceased era of factions will be on the “nobody knows” day.
As for now, we anticipate that the last two Presidential Interface Rallies in the coming weeks, after the fossilisation of G40 and Lacoste, will show a revived liberation movement.
