The Sunday Mail
THOSE who study anthropology claim if you take a group of people and dump them in a desert or a forest or on an island for some time, a leader-follower structure is likely to develop among them, even in instances where they initially set out to be leaderless.
They say this phenomenon is not peculiar to human beings, but is also observable in most, if not all, species, which makes it universal.
So, groups, societies and civilisations naturally evolve into regimented castes that are presided over by a leader, who often defines and determines their fate.
So, structures are inherent and fundamental to the organisational integrity and survival of functional societies and/or organisations.
ZANU PF has been active on the ground more than any other political party
They ensure cohesion, particularly in entities that are made up of many moving parts.
Nowhere are structures and organisational discipline more important than in the military, which essentially forms the bulwark of societies.
This is why military organisations and personnel can be counted on for precision, execution and effective delivery in set tasks.
It is not fortuitous that 36 of the United States’ 46 presidents, including the first one, George Washington, who was a military general, all served in the military.
For close to an uninterrupted 50-year period from the end of World War II in 1945, America was run by former military men, from Harry Truman (a colonel) to George Bush Senior (a lieutenant) at the end of 1993.
In his autobiography “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership”, James Comey, a former director of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), indicated that most of the key personnel in the US administration come from the military, among other key security services.
“I told the (FBI) that I had an ambitious goal: the FBI would one day be the government’s premier leadership factory, and private players would count the days until an FBI leader could retire (age 50 for special agents) so they could hire them to lead . . .
“I told our employees that military services were great organisations, (that) there was no reason why the FBI shouldn’t be the dominant government supplier for America’s corporate leaders,” he insightfully wrote.
And it is also not surprising that perhaps the greatest treatise on strategy was written by a Chinese general, Sun Tzu, whose work, “The Art of War”, is widely referenced in both the military and corporate world.
In one of his famous quotes, he observes: “Those who are victorious plan effectively and change decisively. They are like a great river that maintains its course, but adjusts its flow.”
He notes that “victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win”.
The brilliant military strategist and philosopher also warns: “When the general is weak and without authority; when his orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixed duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganisation.”
Overran
Over the years, Bishop Lazi has been telling opposition political parties that intend to wrest power from ZANU PF that whenever they step into the ring with the revolutionary party, they should know that they are up against a consummate gladiator born out of the cauldron of military struggle.
It has the organisational discipline and capability of military entities that fought a vicious, resourced and well-organised Rhodesian army.
Even at its weakest, it is formidable.
But, as we move towards the August 23 elections, it seems to be at its strongest.
True to Sun Tzu’s observation that “victorious warriors win first and then go to war”, the ruling party has already won more than 90 wards after the sitting of the Nomination Court on June 21, up from 51 wards in before the 2018 poll.
Unlike other political parties contesting this year’s election, ZANU PF has managed to field candidates in all constituencies.
But, even after getting a head start, the ruling party seems to be relentlessly canvassing for votes on the ground more than any other political outfit, which is ominous for the opposition.
By last week, it had convened more than 1 196 gatherings (or rallies), compared to 300 and 23 by the CCC and MDC-T, respectively.
While CCC, which is the only other party that will be contesting all National Assembly seats, has been giving the impression that the police were giving ZANU PF the carte blanche to carry out its political activities while banning those of the opposition, it turns out that law-enforcement agents actually barred more ZANU PF rallies (84) than for opposition parties (59).
It was the same in 2018, when ZANU PF managed to outdo the opposition in pushing its political message through various platforms. Conversely, CCC’s political campaign, in particular, has been in a shambles.
It is, as Sun Tzu noted, as its “general (Nelson Chamisa) is weak and without authority”, “his orders are not clear and distinct (the so-called strategic ambiguity), “there are not fixed duties assigned to officers and men (in his party)”, its ranks “are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner” and the results have been predictable — “utter disorganisation”.
In Bulawayo, the party failed to submit its party list of 10 candidates for the Bulawayo metropolitan council when the Nomination Court sat on June 21, and it is presently praying that its 12 National Assembly candidates are not disqualified for reportedly filing their papers out of time when the Bulawayo High Court sits on Wednesday.
If the decision does not go their way, it will be catastrophic.
It reminded the Bishop of the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25: 1-10.
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise,” it says.
“The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out. ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.” Kikikiki.
David without a sling
When faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, some people often refer to the inspirational biblical story of a young David, who managed to slay the Philistine giant and warrior Goliath using a sling.
But this is hardly the case in the current political matrix.
If the opposition wants to consider itself as David, then there is clearly a David without a sling, and the outcome is likely to be fatal.
Even Chamisa’s allies are already sounding the alarm.
Commenting after the Mass Public Opinion Institute released findings of the Afrobarometer survey on Zimbabwe on Monday, Dr Phillan Zamchiya, a CCC sympathiser, indicated that the results were an eerie foreboding of the fate of the opposition.
“If presidential elections were to be held a day after the survey, the CCC leader would lose to the ZANU (PF) leader. The survey signals that 27 percent of respondents would vote for Chamisa against 35 percent for Mnangagwa,” he said.
“This means that the CCC leader’s support base has shrunk 6 percent since June 2022. This marks the first decline in Chamisa’s vote since he became leader of the opposition.
“When Chamisa took over from Morgan Tsvangirai as MDC Alliance leader, only 16 percent freely expressed intentions to vote for him but this had exponentially gone up to 33 percent by June 2022. Also of significance is that Chamisa’s vote used to be far ahead of his party but the gap has closed to 1 percent.
“On the other end, the survey shows that Mnangagwa’s support base has increased by 5 percent since June 2022. This turns the tide . . .”
For those in the know, this is hardly surprising.
Over the past five years, President ED has done everything possible to unite ZANU PF after the seismic political shift in November 2017, and has united comrades under one big tent.
He has also managed to charm opposition members into switching allegiance, which represents additional votes for ZANU PF.
As Bishop Lazarus said before, there will be epic battles in opposition strongholds such as Bulawayo and Binga, among others, where the ruling party is increasingly turning the tide through its transformational projects, most of which are hard to ignore.
The opposition knows, as we do, that they are up against it, and it will take nothing short of a miracle to put up a meaningful challenge.
Bishop out!
