Today Zimbabwean newly anointed President Emerson Mnangagwa has appointed former Army General Constantine Chiwenga Vice President answering a long-standing puzzle whether what happened in Zimbabwe was a coup or not.
Following a historical political incident where the long-serving former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe was ‘forced’ to resign after the army captured state institutions including key security entities, state media and mobilised people to raise public voice calling for his resignation, there was agitation and cluelessness locally and internationally in the search for clarity in the way the army strategically managed the smart coup that saw the nonagenarian Mugabe out of office.
What was mind-boggling is whether this was a constitutionally justified crucial army project to restore legacy or a reactionary move by the ousted Zanu Pf members including former Vice President, now President Mnangagwa not only to fight back but to wrestle power from the obviously ballooning Mugabe dynasty.
The writing is now in black and white that Zanu PF factions generation 40 (G40) constituted by former First Lady Grace Mugabe supporters and Lacoste by President Emerson Munangagwa backers was real and Grace has become the victim of her political foolishness and Munangagwa reaps the fruits of his cunningness and political intelligence.
By appointing General Chiwenga Vice President, former Air Mashal Perence Shiri Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Former Chief Army Chief of Staff Sibusiso Moyo Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Zimbabwe National Army has been given a share of the cake in the Mugabe departure fiasco.
In his silence breaking twitter handle post, former Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Prof Jonathan highly regarded as Mugabe Spin Doctor Professor Jonathan Moyo posted that Mnangagwa’s recent move is nothing but a justification of a pure coup.
“1/5 With Chiwenga appointed VP, I take a break from my break to say the appointment confirms the 15 Nov military coup,
“President Mugabe was ousted not to benefit Zimbabwe but Chiwenga & Mnangagwa personally. Coup commanders & coup tribalists have been promoted to higher offices!” , Prof Moyo said.
Security restructure: justification for a ‘smart’ coup?
Barely a few weeks after the military’s ‘Operation Restore Legacy’ which saw the much celebrated unceremonial resignation of Zimbabwe’s long saving Mugabe, the army moves out of the streets, not to the barracks, but undergoes a major shakeup in what seemed to be a preparatory move to assume public office.
This offers a clue to a first of its kind Zimbabwean political puzzle that deserves the rewriting of books and revisiting of theories.
It has proved to be an affirmation of what some circles globally defined as a ‘smart Coup D’état’ sanitized by the voice of the people and assurances by the army that it was not anything near a coup.
On the 15th of November, Zimbabwe Defense Forces captured state institutions and declared that the army was now in control and that the President was safe as they clean up criminals surrounding him.
According to political analyst, Dr Ibbo Mandaza “Military rule is a reality” in Zimbabwe.
Some of the purported criminals such as Zanu PF former secretary for administration and Minister of Finance Ignatius Chombo, Political Commissar and Minister for Local Government Savior Kasukuwere and Minister for Higher and tertiary Education Jonathan Moyo had their houses ransacked and arrested on charges of corruption.
Mugabe’s forced resignation was concurrently twinned with calls to reinstate Mnangagwa and his appointment as heir to the throne of both President of the Party and government, and the just-ended Zanu PF extraordinary Congress endorsed the move.
The immediate question, therefore, people of Zimbabwe are asking is; if this was just a clean-up exercise and indeed some of the culprits got arrested, how does it now seem that some senior members of the Zimbabwe defence forces get promoted into public office in a manner that points out to a rewarding move?
However former Zanu Pf Mashonaland West Province Chairperson, who has now rejoined Zanu PF after being booted out sees Mnangagwa’s move as the noblest one.
EDM has succeeded in creating a balance of power where his predecessor failed. EDM:Karanga, Chiwenga:Zezuru (ZANLA), Mohadi:Mat South (ZIPRA), Muchinguri-Kashiri:Manicaland (Gender), Mpofu:Ndebele and Chinamasa:Samanyika. What’s left when the dust settles is to embrace the youth.
— Hon. Temba P. Mliswa (@TembaMliswa) December 23, 2017
Borrowing from former President of Zimbabwe Mugabe’ last parting shot, the newly crowned President of Zimbabwe and the general public must now embrace the admonishment “Asante Sana” which can be literally interpreted as “thank you but we have work to do”
And this speaks to not only Zimbabwe, but the whole of Africa