Two Leadership Couples of a kind in Zimbabbwe Robert and Grace left and right Morgan and the late Susan
The President of Zimbabwe’s reactions and outpourings of sympathy towards the bereaved Prime Minister are commendable and consistent with the country’s custom and practice.
Nothing that has happened in the past between the two political competitors can fault that.
However Zimbabweans remain sceptical about the genuineness of the Presidential show of public empathy and cannot be blamed for that given the past actions of the President towards the Prime Minister and his family as well as political party.
The header of the report of his show of sympathy in the Sunday Mail reinforces the scepticism in Zimbabwean minds.
“The President consoles Tsvangirai,” led the Sunday Mail. Nothing wrong with..that except that in this case it was the President of Zimbabwe consoling the bereaved Prime minister of the same country.
By referring to the former by his state title and omitting similar titular reference to the later the Sunday Mail evokes the emotions central to the mistrust Zimbabweans have in President Mugabe.
The Sunday mail could have easily said President consoles Prime Minister or alternatively Mugabe consoles Tsvangirai to show that it holds the same respect for the two leaders.
But no it chose to show respect to one leader and disrespect for the other even as he grieves from the tragic loss of his beloved wife in a road traffic accident that many believe has elements of foul play written all over it.
I met a close relative of the Prime Minister in Zimbabwe on 15 October 2008 whom I shall call Amai Grace for fear that if I disclose her real identity she may very well be the target of the foul play suspected in the accident that claimed the life of the Premier’s life.
She spoke with the premonition that has only truly been vindicated by the tragic accident on 6 March 2009.
I had sought her views on the 15 September agreement to form the Inclusive Government.
She responded as follows;
“We are very disappointed and angry with Tsvangirai for deciding to go into government with Mugabe. It is not right. Mugabe was in a tight spot and about to capitulate. This is his clever way of getting out of the sticky political situation he was in. Mugabe’s intentions are very clear. He has tried everything in his power to eliminate Tsvangirai without success because Tsvangirai had kept his distance from him. This Unity government is a project to draw Tsvangirai closer so that Mugabe can throw a final fatal blow on him. If it was up to me I would have stopped him from going anywhere near Mugabe because he will be killed very shortly. Mark my words he will be killed,” she sobbed.
No more than three weeks after being sworn into office the Premier is battling for his life after a road traffic accident that claimed the life of his dear wife and left him his aide and driver seriously injured.
It is by the grace of God that they are still alive to relate the story of what happened but I curse myself for not having published Amai Grace’s premonition earlier than the accident.
That is what fate had in store that made me omit sharing that view with many others as I usually do.
The accident is mired in controversy. Sifting through the reports so far tends to confirm that;
1. A Harare bound bull barred Nissan CK20 belonging to USAID driven by Chinoona Mwanda (35), swiped with the Premier’s Toyota Land cruiser travelling in the opposite direction at the 80 Kilometre peg along the Harare/Masvingo road.
2.The Premier was travelling in a three vehicle motorcade and was in the middle of the three vehicles.
3. Mwanda’s truck for yet to be established reasons swerved towards the Premier carrying vehicle and evasive action by his driver avoided a head on collision but not the tail swipe that caused it to spin and roll no less than three times before landing on its roof.
4. Mwanda was not injured and stopped his vehicle normally and assisted in pulling out the Premier and his aides from the wreckage of their vehicle.
5. The body of the Premier’s wife had been thrown out of the Toyota Land cruiser as it rolled suggesting she may not have buckled her safety seat belts.
6. The injured were driven to Beatrice Hospital in one of the Premier’s accompanying all terrain escort vehicles where Susan was pronounced dead on arrival.
7. Police took Mwanda into protective custody.
8. Deon Theron was among the first people to take photographic evidence of the accident scene but was arrested and his camera confiscated by the POLICE
There are other speculations and conspiracy theories flying around but these appear to be the established facts about the accident as of now.
Unsure about the exact cause of the accident and worried about the conspiracies circulating that the accident was carefully planned with the intention to kill the Premier and immobilise the momentum his party is gaining through the positive impact of the work its quota of Ministers in the Inclusive Government is having on the people, the Party has resolved to take no chances with anything and flown the PM to Botswana for “further treatment.”
The truth is that there were too many pointers that the Prime Minister’s safety in the Avenues Clinic was severely compromised not just by the injuries he sustained in the accident but mainly by the ongoing plans by the dark forces disgruntled by his ascendancy to the premiership some of whom were the first to visit him in hospital.
In President Mugabe’s visiting party were Gideon Gono, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Grace Mugabe and Happyton Bonyongwe who were instrumental members of the Junta that scuttled Tsvangirai’s presidential electoral victory in the March 29 elections.
President Mugabe has vowed that Tsvangirai will never rule Zimbabwe for as long as he is alive.
Happyton Bonyongwe was there when Retired General Vitalis Zvinavashe declared that as Security chiefs they will never salute Tsvangirai if he won the Presidency because he lacked Liberation War credentials and has been there whenever the Security Chiefs have continuously reiterated the statement and acted in a manner consistent with that declaration. He even boycotted the Premier’s swearing in ceremony together with the other Security chiefs Chiwenga, Shiri, Chihuri and Zimondi.
To his credit though Bonyongwe is the only one from the Junta’s Military commanders to have openly ordered his supporters to live in the reality of the Inclusive Government and his inclusion in Mugabe’s retinue to visit the hospitalised Premier means he has broken ranks with other unforgiving Commanders.
Grace Mugabe told Zanu PF supporters that the premier will never set foot in State House. Although she has been disproved by the elevation of the MDC President to premier and deserving of State House perks she is yet to publicly concede to the nation that she and her husband were wrong to make such inflammatory statements in public.
Emmerson Mnangagwa boasted that Tsvangirai would never win the sham 27 June 2008 runoff election and went on to lead a vicious campaign that displaced 250000 MDC supporters, suspended food aid to suspected MDC supporters and left a known 300 dead while many are others are still missing to date.
He is reported to have met the PM and pledged loyalty to him but the Army Commanders and Air force commanders under his and the President’s charge continue to despise the Premier without him taking any action against their insubordination.
Dr Gideon Gono financed the junta and at one point paid for a tractor to be donated to the Premier’s father to tarnish the Premier’s image. Currently he is at the centre of a disputed extension of term of office outside the Global Political Agreement.
People are excused to wonder if these are the best people to be given the first opportunity to console the Premier at a time he is fighting for his own life.
Our experience with these people is that wherever they are congregated only their most loyal defenders are allowed to set foot and for them to be allowed to congregate around the Premier’s sick bed in the defenceless status he was in after the accident must have been a shocking experience rather than the comforting one he deserved in the circumstances.
It is this fear that State operatives whose loyalties to the Premier are still questionable can ring fence his treatment room and have exclusive access to him that pushed the MDC to seek for his premature discharge on the guise they would want him to receive further treatment elsewhere than in a hospital ring fenced by people he did not trust and may very well have had something to do with his misfortune.
That is a fact the party will never deny convincingly although they will try to spin it to be a transfer necessitated by the need for further treatment.
Botswana is considered a friendlier ally of the Premier than South Africa with more advanced healthcare facilities in the region and so it had to be Botswana where the Premier would be allowed to recuperate free from fear of charlatans within the Government he is yet to take full charge of.
It is a telling indictment on President Mugabe’s ability to protect his premier that the Premier’s and family as well as his in-laws have allowed him leave of absence from his dear wife’s funeral in order to expedite his quick recuperation.
The family like the MDC Party must have been informed by the rationale that the pain of losing his wife and not being able to be there to accept condolences and oversee her burial arrangements is nowhere near as aggravating to his health as the presence of Zanu PF characters of sorts with unclear loyalties to his leadership of the Government.
While we applaud the humane side of the Presidential condolences we must advise that it is no use the president gelling with the Premier over the corpse of Susan.
Rather such humane outpourings must be for the benefit of the living. The President can use the occasion of the tragic death of Susan to console the nation by releasing all the political prisoners languishing in state prisons because they are anti-Zanu PF for real or perceived.
Such a consoling message will go a long way towards removing fears that give rise to suspicions whenever misfortune visits the President’s political opponents.
Zimbabweans will never understand the sincerity of a President who mourns the death of the wife of a political leader he spends nights and days planning how best to legally assassinate and eliminate through false accusations validated by confessions from supporters ruthlessly tortured by State Militia under the same President’s overall command.
For the record in all litigation where the State is prosecuting and or defending, President Mugabe is enjoined to the prosecution or defence by virtue of his title as Head of State.
By allowing the Attorney General to masquerade as the State and abusing the justice delivery system using legal technicalities that are not in tandem with acceptable social norms of the time the President is in effect allowing his repute to be decried by the very people on whose behalf he is acting as Head of State.
We are convinced that it is the president who is detaining the political prisoners in his other capacity as Zanu PF President.
At a time when Susan’s death is widely believed to be a Zanu PF malcontents attempt on the Premier’s life that missed the intended target by a whisker, President Mugabe can dispel the existence of that dark force behind Zanu PF by ordering the release of all the political detainees in his jails forthwith and without explanation for his actions.
That will be the most meaningful condolence message he can send to Tsvangirai.
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