WHEN Jesus confronted the woman at the well she declared that the well from which she was drawing water had been dug by her ancestor Jacob. In other words Jacob who had died a thousand years earlier could still be remembered through the well he had dug while alive.
It is the greatest nightmare for every person to consider one’s legacy like Jacob; they all want to leave a well behind to be remembered by. Karl Max, on his death bed is said to have uttered the words, “Go away, last words are for fools who have not said enough.” Boxers who fight on well beyond their prime risk humiliating themselves more and more before succumbing to Parkinson’s disease and other serious symptoms of brain damage. Politicians who cling on to power hoping for that last political punch only succeed in filling up the wells they will have already dug.
What will Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF be remembered for? Definitely when the present anger and pain we now feel have ebbed away, some credit will still be due to Mugabe and his party for their role in the independence struggle. But it is doubtful if they will be remembered for anything else positive. It is unlikely episodes such as Gukurahundi, Murambatsvina, the June 27 2008  election violence, among others things, will be forgotten in a hurry.
As for the MDC, a party that came into being years after Zanu PF, history is in the making. If the constitution-making process succeeds, MDC can claim credit for it. If they do not get into power at all they can always boast that their presence in the inclusive government made it possible for a new constitution to be written.
The writing of the constitution will be the final step in the long road to revolutionary change. It will herald the crossing of the Jordan into the Promised Land. Zanu PF should not and cannot claim credit for the constitution. As we speak the backsides of many a man and woman are still smarting from blows inflicted by the regime’s agents during the 2008 election campaigns.
Some are still nursing broken bones to this day while others died as Zanu PF defended its “sacrosanct” constitution. Their efforts to write one turned out to be a fiasco as they tried to smuggle their own self-serving version through the back door. To show that they are still not repentant they still unashamedly  want to push the same document down people’s throats through the infamous Kariba Draft.
I have previously been taken to task for saying Zanu PF does not want the situation in the country to stabilise. They do not want sanctions to be removed. The statement by Mugabe “Blair keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe” was a tacit call for sanctions.
Zanu PF thrives on anger and confusion. VaMugabe, true to his clan name Karigamombe, thrives on taking the bull by the horns and he has a propensity for baiting the next formidable bulls for that purpose. Hence the policy to take 51% shares in all foreign-owned companies.
Mugabe is deliberately creating a crisis in order to ride it. I salute Morgan Tsvangirai for allowing him enough rope to hang himself, for by refusing to give him the crisis, he (Tsvangirai) is taking away the only weapon Mugabe is capable of using so well.

Nqobizita Khumalo (Rev) –
Faith and Service Coalition (FASCO).

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