The Sunday News
There was wailing and gnashing of teeth as the Bikita West results trickled in. It was double tragedy for those who had previously wept for the Warriors who were tenderised by Senegal, at least the soccer boys had given the Lions of Teranga a good run for their money unlike the whitewash experienced in the Zanu-PF stronghold.
With high hopes, Zimbabweans all toed behind the team, with unification, aura and verve, all political disparities were forgotten, the hunger, tension and ethnic belonging were for once subdued and everyone was Zimbabwean. This is what the nation needs — unity. I applaud the warriors’ performance in all their games, at least they gave people a sense of pride, belonging and being, that team invoked the Zimbabwean we all habitat, we all had something to celebrate which brought us together. It is such moments when being Zimbabwean is more important than anything, we collectively fear the humiliation of losing, the pain of the loss after so much effort, at least for a moment people took time to find common ground, I hope they always do, there is a lot in common in all of us, we are easily swept away by politics and create these mirages of difference and we start othering others. No No No! If warriors can bring 12 million people together, then there is a lot more that can still make us Zimbabweans, politics is just but exercise of who gets what, when, where and how, its competitive in nature and it’s a vocation. Woe to those whose calling isn’t it, for they shall lose repeatedly and embarrassingly and so shall be the children of their children.
I don’t want to beat about the bush, straight to the point: ZimPF lost in Bikita West, end of story. Why they lost, how they lost, will they lose in 2018 and how they will lose is still topical in their camps. As usual, common and cultural in opposition, they started off with a blame game where Dr Joice Mujuru was blamed for not working hard to ensure that Kudakwashe Gopo wins. They blame the party for not working hard enough to campaign. On that very evening, a Pandora’s box was opened and the young blood of the party put all the blame on their failed president and the old fellows — Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa for bringing their “Zanuism” as they put it, into the new party.
Mujuru’s crime was of not putting much effort, Council of elders’ crime was of once being Zanu-PF, which I couldn’t see how it connects to the loss, and the whole party’s crime was of going to those elections in the first place. Everyone on that evening was a criminal. One way or another, there was someone to blame, but the party president was the witch on the stake, how pitiful, Baqinisile abathi isala kutshelwa sibonwa ngomopho, ZimPF bled, they had agreed to the “No reforms, no elections ailing plan, it shouldn’t have been a surprise though, if they didn’t see it coming, then they should have at least believed me when I wrote about the guaranteed loss of opposition in Bikita, much of what I have written if not all has come to fruition. I once wrote last year, to opposition, I am your Jeremiah, I shall take you to Babylon, but I won’t bring you back. A lot of debate is surrounding the loss of ZimPF in Bikita West and I wonder what is puzzling people. A colleague recently asked why Zanu-PF continues winning. I answered: if Zanu-PF is as unpopular as you think, then you haven’t met the masses. Your assumption of unpopularity is based on the limited interaction you have with the few hundreds you engage in opposition who hate Zanu-PF to the extent of not seeing how much they aid to its winning. Too much hate for something blinds you from your continuous mistakes of beautifying it. Simple analogy, if you hate your ex so much, you talk about him/her a lot that the listener mostly gets the goodness in them. People start to wonder why you harbour so much about that person to the extent of not moving on and only focus on them. Your ex will be moving on, yet you are stagnant; that is the fate of our opposition culprits. Bitter exes.
Simple calculations should have been a pre-answer to ZimPF, prior to engaging Zanu-PF in Bikita West. When Munyaradzi Kereke ran against Elias Musakwa, they both garnered 13 000 plus votes and MDC –T got 3 000 minus, now that there isn’t any Zanu-PF split vote, it was definite both Kereke and Musakwa votes would go to Beauty Chabaya. The ugliness of opposition betting on this one was the surprise of Leornard Zhakata winning the Top 50 ahead of popular top billed musicians at the end of 2016. The surprise Zhakata pulled left the social media activists puzzled. As I always say, social media posts, comments and likes do not translate to reality. Mediatisation of our lives has created too much actors whose actions are over rehearsed and bipolar. What people present on social media is not what they actually believe in and do in actuality. This was the plight of many musicians on that fateful morning of 2017 when Karikoga Zhakata swept all awards contrary to Facebook polls. This was the same fate that befell opposition on that evening when results of a more than 11 000 votes margin came in from the rural Bikita West contrary to the popularity of opposition displayed only on social media. There was no way Zanu-PF was going to lose that election with the way its core supporters are disciplined and conservative, contrary to opposition who are bitter, angry and overly active on social media, only good at posting instead of meeting the people. So arithmetically, how on earth was opposition supposing a win in that territory, did they assume that suddenly the split votes of Kereke and Musakwa were going to skip camp? By now opposition should know the difference between a Zanu-PF member and a supporter.
These two are different and Dr Mujuru knows that pretty well. A Zanu-PF supporter is simply there for the benefits, such as youth stands, association with power and grabbing of opportunities if they so arise whereas a member is disciplined so much that even if Zanu-PF were to dismantle today, they would rather not join any party, these are the people who or whose families participated in the formation of Zanu-PF in their areas, whose political discipline is installed and engraved in their hearts, whose lives have been made better by Zanu-PF. I am talking about the war collaborators, liberation fighters and party thinkers. It is beyond any imagination to sway such people, yet opposition continuously makes the same mistake of assuming.
Such “careless” assumptions by opposition are born out of their anger for Zanu-PF and it costs them repeatedly. On another note, Zanu-PF went to the ground. During the blame game stage in opposition, immediately after the announcement of loss, they admitted that Zanu-PF worked hard this time. The National Political Commissar, Comrade Saviour Kasukuwere together with a lot of party officials embarked on a door to door campaign, they met the masses, those who are members and even new cadres. This was least expected of Zanu-PF yet they shocked opposition and campaigned hard. As usual as it is, opposition, like in 2013, they admitted to the loss. They conceded that Zanu-PF had worked hard compared to them, but as usual, it embarrasses them that they continuously lose. It is no secret that opposition blames Zanu-PF for all the failures this country faces, yet they lose to it again and again. This should be embarrassing at all levels. Well, Zanu-PF changed its game plan in Bikita West, they went to the ground yet opposition mobilised its supporters over WhatsApp groups.
In as much as technology has taken the toll of livelihoods in this world, we severely overrate it when it comes to rural areas, particularly, the electorate. It is not the Facebook mongers who vote, it’s the elders as evidenced in Bikita West. They do not know what an emoji is, they have no idea of what poking is and here is someone who thinks they are way intelligent by online mobilisation, come on, wakeup Joice, learn from your former bosses, they always go to the people, speak to them, reassured and the people responded. In fact there is a difference between personal interaction and online chats, the expressions and rapport are different and that is why they receive different reactions. The online reaction was a pebble 2 300 plus vote and the door to door tiresome campaign brings you a 11 000 plus margin. Like Leornard Zhakata, Zanu-PF puzzled online activists, that should be a lesson for 2018, Zanu-PF will be meeting the people while opposition will be posting, hoping for more likes assuming they translate into Xs on ballot papers.
I am not surprised by the course opposition has chosen to defend their loss lately, the tired rhetoric of violence and intimidation. Kambe shuwa? In this day and age, repeatedly using the same defence of your failure. Politics of violence and intimidation are long over. If there are any to account for, they are not part of Zanu-PF campaign strategy, these are individuals with their differences and the party cannot account for each and every party members or supporters.
If politics of violence and intimidation were still in use then in Bulawayo, Zanu-PF wouldn’t be losing as it has been, Norton would have been won and anyway in 1985 elections when political violence was prime, the now defunct PF-Zapu won in the violence infested areas. Opposition is essential in a democracy, it ensures checks and balances but if we have a mediocre opposition then where are the checks in their camp. Conclusively, Zimbabwe has one party for now, until then, let’s forget about a possibility of a coalition.
n Micheal Mhlanga is a research and strategic communication specialist and is currently serving Leaders for Africa Network (LAN) as the Programmes and Public Liaison Officer. He also administrates multiple youth public dialogue forums in Zimbabwe including the annual Reading Pan Africanism Symposium (REPS) and Back to Pan Africanism Conference.
