Violence: Fire Once Teased Snarls All the Way to Ash
November 7, 2014
Opinion & Analysis
Joram Nyathi Group Political Editor
Zimbabwe Herald
In my column last week, I hinted at people’s frustration with the ongoing Zanu-PF infighting. I said there was a growing impatience that the party’s elective congress wasn’t coming soon enough. All this because the ruling party seems to have put its real electoral agenda, Zim-Asset, on the back-burner as its senior members jostle for strategic positions in the major political factions.
At that point, I hadn’t reckoned with a new trajectory, the ugly face of these factional fights manifesting themselves in physical fights and the destruction of property in the impoverished Southlea settlement of Harare South this week.
That small incident, itself full of portents, should get people thinking seriously about the messages which the factional fights in the upper echelons of power in Zanu-PF are transmitting to party supporters, activists, sympathisers and followers.
If the fighting in Southlea between supporters of the different factions in the party reflects the way the message has been interpreted by the grassroots, corollary questions must be asked: is that to be taken as the intended objective of the squabbles in the leadership? To what end?
To whose benefit?
Is there any one person or a group of persons at this stage who can restore order by just raising their voice above the current din?
Are things being left to take their own course?
Or are these entirely unintended consequences of adults arguing for far too long until the children take sides and act as if it were a free for all?
Unfortunately the “unintended” dimension is beginning to assume a bigger and more sinister role than the original row over factions which even President Mugabe has acknowledged exist.
One thing which cannot be denied is that it was about time this malady was acknowledged. The scourge of factions has plagued Zanu-PF for a long time, that is they have been a lifeblood of the party from the days of the liberation struggle. They have been persistent, differing only in their intensity at various stages and culminating in Zanu-PF’s humiliation in the 2008 elections – bhora musango.
The opposition picked the ball and scored.
Members of the warring factions appeared to have found each other before last year’s harmonised elections. They mobilised and spoke with one voice. The party scored a victory beyond its own expectations. What remained of the MDC-T was mortally wounded.
But even as the MDC-T licks its wounds, it must question the fairness of a deity that denies it victory only to hand it over to a party which fights itself with such deadly ferocity!
For the removal of the MDC-T fear, or is it threat, seems to have turned Zanu-PF against itself once again, this time around with gloves off. Off because it looks like everybody is keen to cry out, to let off steam, to vent out their long bottled up emotions, frustrations and bitterness over deep-felt grievances.
And this unrestrained outpouring of emotions has taken the dangerous route of opening each other’s closets.
It is a fratricide.
Let it be stated that it was important tactically to be frank about factions in the party and to name names; important because it would enable the leadership to trim rampant egos and manage processes ahead of the elective congress. There is inevitable jostling for positions. That, however, should be done within limits.
Which is why it is important for political parties to reach consensus on guidelines, rules and regulations and establish traditions on how such processes are conducted. It’s part of the risks which come with democracy.
But Zanu-PF appears to have failed to keep within limits; to avoid souring family relationships.
Taking the factional fights so far as the liberation war years is fraught with dangers.
This is because there is a risk of going well beyond power games and personal animosities to piercing and ultimately breaking the ideological armour which has always been Zanu-PF’s greatest, impregnable fortress, a fastness against internal challenges and external enemies.
It is what has made Zanu-PF what it is since the 1987 Unity Accord; a party of the struggle able to withstanding inevitable internal contradictions that come with any drawn out, taxing undertaking.
The biggest danger is not one of a possible split before or at the elective congress. I don’t know if that is possible or if it is within the contemplation of either of the factions. Which is the risk of pushing each other to the extremes.
The biggest danger is destroying all mutual trust among party members who have come such a long way together for the sake of power. It makes it very difficult for the party to operate as a unit.
It brings back the haunting spectre of the inclusive Government years when members of rival political parties viewed each other with suspicion and it was not easy to conduct frank debate on sensitive national issues, even in Cabinet.
Therein arises the grave matter of national security.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. But there is no denying that Zimbabweans are anxious. So is the region, and so is the international community.
Zanu-PF is the ruling party. The opposition has over the years pretended that it could foment political instability.
Morgan Tsvangirai insists up to now that he is within his constitutional rights to lead street demonstrations. This he affirmed at his party’s congress last week.
There are masses of unemployed people who would love to make a sport of it. Even those who, ordinarily would not want to be associated with the opposition.
Under such an environment, it’s even more unsettling to have the ruling party fighting itself and fuelling more fears of unrest. Wrong signals are being emitted to even Zimbabwe’s best friends about a ruling party washing all its dirty linen in public while leaving the economy unattended.
It is time Zanu-PF resolved its challenges and show the nation the way forward. That is what people are expecting from Zanu-PF: leadership, not factionalism.
It is said fire once teased snarls all the way to ash.
 |
| Aftermath of factional violence among ZANU-PF members in Harare South on Nov. 5, 2014. |
Opinion & Analysis
Joram Nyathi Group Political Editor
Zimbabwe Herald
In my column last week, I hinted at people’s frustration with the ongoing Zanu-PF infighting. I said there was a growing impatience that the party’s elective congress wasn’t coming soon enough. All this because the ruling party seems to have put its real electoral agenda, Zim-Asset, on the back-burner as its senior members jostle for strategic positions in the major political factions.
At that point, I hadn’t reckoned with a new trajectory, the ugly face of these factional fights manifesting themselves in physical fights and the destruction of property in the impoverished Southlea settlement of Harare South this week.
That small incident, itself full of portents, should get people thinking seriously about the messages which the factional fights in the upper echelons of power in Zanu-PF are transmitting to party supporters, activists, sympathisers and followers.
If the fighting in Southlea between supporters of the different factions in the party reflects the way the message has been interpreted by the grassroots, corollary questions must be asked: is that to be taken as the intended objective of the squabbles in the leadership? To what end?
To whose benefit?
Is there any one person or a group of persons at this stage who can restore order by just raising their voice above the current din?
Are things being left to take their own course?
Or are these entirely unintended consequences of adults arguing for far too long until the children take sides and act as if it were a free for all?
Unfortunately the “unintended” dimension is beginning to assume a bigger and more sinister role than the original row over factions which even President Mugabe has acknowledged exist.
One thing which cannot be denied is that it was about time this malady was acknowledged. The scourge of factions has plagued Zanu-PF for a long time, that is they have been a lifeblood of the party from the days of the liberation struggle. They have been persistent, differing only in their intensity at various stages and culminating in Zanu-PF’s humiliation in the 2008 elections – bhora musango.
The opposition picked the ball and scored.
Members of the warring factions appeared to have found each other before last year’s harmonised elections. They mobilised and spoke with one voice. The party scored a victory beyond its own expectations. What remained of the MDC-T was mortally wounded.
But even as the MDC-T licks its wounds, it must question the fairness of a deity that denies it victory only to hand it over to a party which fights itself with such deadly ferocity!
For the removal of the MDC-T fear, or is it threat, seems to have turned Zanu-PF against itself once again, this time around with gloves off. Off because it looks like everybody is keen to cry out, to let off steam, to vent out their long bottled up emotions, frustrations and bitterness over deep-felt grievances.
And this unrestrained outpouring of emotions has taken the dangerous route of opening each other’s closets.
It is a fratricide.
Let it be stated that it was important tactically to be frank about factions in the party and to name names; important because it would enable the leadership to trim rampant egos and manage processes ahead of the elective congress. There is inevitable jostling for positions. That, however, should be done within limits.
Which is why it is important for political parties to reach consensus on guidelines, rules and regulations and establish traditions on how such processes are conducted. It’s part of the risks which come with democracy.
But Zanu-PF appears to have failed to keep within limits; to avoid souring family relationships.
Taking the factional fights so far as the liberation war years is fraught with dangers.
This is because there is a risk of going well beyond power games and personal animosities to piercing and ultimately breaking the ideological armour which has always been Zanu-PF’s greatest, impregnable fortress, a fastness against internal challenges and external enemies.
It is what has made Zanu-PF what it is since the 1987 Unity Accord; a party of the struggle able to withstanding inevitable internal contradictions that come with any drawn out, taxing undertaking.
The biggest danger is not one of a possible split before or at the elective congress. I don’t know if that is possible or if it is within the contemplation of either of the factions. Which is the risk of pushing each other to the extremes.
The biggest danger is destroying all mutual trust among party members who have come such a long way together for the sake of power. It makes it very difficult for the party to operate as a unit.
It brings back the haunting spectre of the inclusive Government years when members of rival political parties viewed each other with suspicion and it was not easy to conduct frank debate on sensitive national issues, even in Cabinet.
Therein arises the grave matter of national security.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. But there is no denying that Zimbabweans are anxious. So is the region, and so is the international community.
Zanu-PF is the ruling party. The opposition has over the years pretended that it could foment political instability.
Morgan Tsvangirai insists up to now that he is within his constitutional rights to lead street demonstrations. This he affirmed at his party’s congress last week.
There are masses of unemployed people who would love to make a sport of it. Even those who, ordinarily would not want to be associated with the opposition.
Under such an environment, it’s even more unsettling to have the ruling party fighting itself and fuelling more fears of unrest. Wrong signals are being emitted to even Zimbabwe’s best friends about a ruling party washing all its dirty linen in public while leaving the economy unattended.
It is time Zanu-PF resolved its challenges and show the nation the way forward. That is what people are expecting from Zanu-PF: leadership, not factionalism.
It is said fire once teased snarls all the way to ash.
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