The Sunday News
AS tempers and attitudes flared amid scarcity of food and water in the cruel wilderness when the Israelites dragged on that wearisome journey towards Canaan, many lost focus. They got distracted from the bigger picture, they began to complain and grumble, wishing they were back in Egypt living as slaves.
Even Moses’ own sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron began to complain and sought to join forces against him. The very Miriam who watched over Moses from a distance as he attended the “Reeds ECD” in the River Nile when Pharaoh set out to eliminate the baby boys. The same Miriam who saw it all and struggled with Moses and others out of Egypt. Probably thinking they could do a better job of leading the people, they grumbled, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?”
God felt it wasn’t time yet to dislodge the extraordinary Moses. God descended in a cloud and condemned their actions. When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Bible says Miriam stood leprous, like snow. Miriam’s fate is similar to that of King Uzziah, who in rage and fury defiled God’s authority and decided to burn incense, a prerogative of the priests.
Leprosy broke out on his forehead, visible enough for all to see. God used leprosy as a severe punitive measure for those with disregard for legitimate authority, whatever the reasons. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God (Romans 13:1).
Outbreaks of this oldest disease known to man have put humanity on panic mode at a global scale. The flesh and nerves are gradually destroyed, resulting in loss of ability to feel pain, muscle weakness and poor eyesight. It is spread through people and infection is thought to occur through contact with fluids of an infected person. To this reason, stigmatists keep at bay.
Historically, lepers, or rather, more politely, people affected with leprosy, have lived in quarantine. This has brought to the fore, an array of stigmas among them, enacted stigma and self-stigma. The former alludes to being discriminated upon and discounted whilst the latter refers to the fear of being discriminated against.
Before she faced Waterloo in 2014 after plotting against President Mugabe, many saw a daughter of the revolution in Joice Mujuru. In her, they saw a devoted cadre, a bearer of the revolutionary torch instead of an individual who would betray the revolution and even go lengths and show disregard for the first family.
The fallen Mount Darwin-born politician fought in the war of liberation, joining the liberation struggle just after two years of secondary education. Taking the nom-de-guerre Teurai Ropa, she saw and felt the struggle for independence, rising to become one of the first women commanders. She saw it all.
Before being diagnosed with political leprosy, Runaida – her other name – was indeed a determined individual and a go-getter. She completed her secondary education after the war and packed her bags from the country’s second high office a holder of a Doctorate. Today she is called Dr Joice Mujuru.
Such qualities and determination arguably saw her earn President Mugabe’s trust as she became the country’s youngest cabinet minister at the dawn of independence. But what went wrong? Finding an answer isn’t a mammoth task as Mujuru is just a victim of fate. She is suffering the consequences of failure to respect authority, a lesson in what happens when one becomes too big for their shoes in face of that which God has prescribed.
Today she lies on her political deathbed, diagnosed with political leprosy. Her allies, who obviously can’t stand the malodorous stench in her quarantine are deserting her. The politically troubled soul is in pain and in the cold. Speaking from her quarantine base at Chisipite in the capital and evidently out of self-stigma, she recently pruned dead-like branches from her now defunct political outfit. She wielded the axe on her considered “high ranking officials” who include Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo; former Zimbabwe Union of Democrats leader, Margaret Dongo; former Zanu-PF Politburo member Kudakwashe Bhasikiti; former Cabinet member Munacho Mutezo; former Zanu-PF Bikita West legislator, Retired Colonel Claudius Makova; and former Zanu-PF Mashonaland East provincial youth chairperson Luckson Kandemiri. These became the first casualties of Mujuru’s self-stigma.
In kind response and in a gross display of enacted stigma and a reminder of who the actual leper was, the expelled members staged a counter, expelling her from the party while battling for the beleaguered party’s name. They also accused Mujuru of inept leadership. To this end, former allies, Sylvester Nguni and Agrippa Mutambara tendered their resignations citing indecisiveness and cluelessness on the part of Mujuru.
“If she was intelligent, she would not have expelled Cde Gumbo and I because we were expelled (from Zanu-PF) on her account and anyone with any intelligence would actually say these are untouchable”, lamented a disgruntled Mutasa.
Owing to this kind of diagnosis, Mujuru has developed blurred vision and has lost the confidence of her handful of followers as evidenced by the landslide loss to Zanu PF’s Beauty Chabaya at the Bikita by-election. For the benefit of the archives, Zanu-PF’s Chabaya garnered 13 156 votes against ZPF’s Kudakwashe Gopo who got a mere 2 453.
For Runaida, the heart is willing but the flesh is refusing, it can’t allow anymore. All energy is gone, she has become weak in all aspects. Ah! Where is all that energy she flaunted during the latter part of the 2000-2010 decade when she went around the country donating pigs and chicks?
Her tragedy has plunged the opposition MDC-T into two camps. This is, however, not new to the MDC as the movement’s name and the word “split” have always existed in the same sentence. Whilst the MDC-T leader, Tsvangirai has shown an interest in a coalition with Mujuru, many in his camp regard Mujuru as a political liability.
Many had expressed concern regarding a political intercourse with Mujuru. They had refused to be equally yoked with a leper, or rather, on a polite note, a person affected by leprosy. At this moment, they could be saying “We told you so Morgan”
Consequently, prospects of a political coalition as opposition parties sought to build a Babel Tower rising up to the State House have hit a brick wall.
On 30 January, in ill-informed optimism, the Newsday thundered: “Tsvangirai gets Coalition nod”, as it reported that Tsvangirai had reportedly been given the green light by his supporters in Matabeleland region to form a grand coalition with Mujuru ahead of next year’s general elections. I doubt and wonder if this reporter and her audience are aware that 30 January is World Leprosy Day, a day set aside to increase public awareness of the Leprosy disease.
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