It’s Catch 22

It is becoming increasingly evident with each passing day that Mugabe and ZANU PF have some very clear objectives to achieve out of the GNU process. First they must retain all power and none of it be handed over to the MDC political machine. What semblance of power is to be ‘handed over’ is not to be handed over but is to be delegated and retrieved when the act of delegating has been fulfilled. The kind of power to be delegated is only that which will help the government ‘remove illegal sanctions’ and pump new money into the economy. The need for new money is because there is currently little or nothing left to loot, so the new money will be received in order for further systematic looting by individuals in the ZANU PF hierarchy. How else does one explain the continued protection of Gideon Gono as the RBZ Governor, the ‘retrieval’ of the Information and Telecommunications ministry from the MDC back into the ZANU PF stable?

Media freedom is to be curtailed at all costs. Justice, Law and Order, will only be allowed to continue ZANU PF style – that is – impunity for the ZANU PF hierarchy, imprisonment and all that goes with it – beatings, torture, solitary confinement, zero access by ‘criminals’ to lawyers for everyone else. In this regard, it is essential to retain the grip on the relevant ministries. It also explains why ZANU PF appointed the new Attorney General ahead of the formation of the GNU.

The plan also includes the subornation of the MDC legislators and eventually the disbandment of the MDC as a political opposition. How else does one explain the attempts at providing largesse in the form of motor vehicles through Gideon Gono?

One hopes that the two MDC factions and their leaders are aware of this – they probably are. But will that enable them to withstand the pressures? Is there any value in the MDC trying to continue with this charade? Would it be better to walk away now? If they did, who would be the next MDC leader to find himself either at the end of a fatal road accident or detained in the notorious Goromonzi police station cells? Thus the pressure to remain within the GNU is not just from the benefits of ZANU PF style largesse, but also the threat of ZANU PF style ‘persuasion’ if they don’t.