SundayView: Moyo regrets spewing vitriol against Mugabe

Comment & Analysis
By Clifford Chitupa Mashiri   Jonathan Moyo hates his past and the proof lies in his writings in which he passionately castigated Robert Mugabe, the leader of Zanu PF. Moyo said and did things that he now wishes he should never have  said or done.

That’s why he does not want his dirty skeletons, metaphorically speaking, removed from the cupboard. Fortunately, he cannot undo some of his  “wrongs”, especially what he wrote; it’s there for eternity and historians to analyse and sometimes laugh at.

 

Judging from his latest attempts to silence the independent press as if we have pardoned him for his retrogressive media laws such as Aippa, it can be  argued that he is facing tough tests of allegiance and loyalty to Zanu PF.

Evidence that the architect of Zimbabwe’s tough media laws is under the microscope is his latest attempts to gag the Daily News and the Zimbabwe Independent by stopping them from republishing articles he wrote attacking Mugabe. However, the media is fighting back.

Topmost on what can be perceived as Moyo’s personal problems which could be the driving force in his endless search for political immunity are his unresolved issues with the Ford Foundation Kenya and the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. That could also explain his alleged  presidential ambitions whereby he acts and speaks as if he is a super-minister.

Another personal crisis Moyo is facing is that of sanitising or air-brushing the self-inflicted damage of image as he appears to be having flashbacks or nightmares of something he regrets  doing — his anti-Mugabe stance.

Then the party problems are mainly those of re-integration whereby he appears to be facing a credibility crisis and a crisis of confidence in the eyes of vigilant Zanu PF hardliners who are unconvinced by his “chameleon-style” tactics and lack of guerrilla war credentials other than transiting  through Tanzania to the United States for his Western-funded degrees.

The  party has had to engage in fire-fighting tactics to douse Moyo’s  fireworks in the wake of his fiery attacks on Sadc and the mediator on Zimbabwe, South African President Jacob Zuma. To some Mugabe loyalists, Moyo is “a big risk”, is “incompetent” and an “unguided missile”.

It is possible that Moyo is facing resentment from within Zanu PF as there has not been any internal party healing since the Tsholotsho  debacle hence growing factionalism. However, rejoining Zanu PF must have  been a matter of survival for the serial flip-flopper who had to shed real tears to be pardoned five years ago.

According to the BBC, Jonathan Moyo cried (yes cried) when asked if he was plotting a coup, Mugabe told a campaign rally in March 2005.

“We asked him whether he wanted to stage a coup…and tears started flowing.

down his cheeks,” Mugabe said in Moyo’s home district. “He did terrible things, going to the army commander,” Mugabe told the crowd.

“No Jonathan, you are clever, but you lack wisdom. You are educated, but you do not have wisdom,” Mugabe said.

Mugabe’s words seemed prophetic about Moyo because after writing Why Mugabe Should Go Now, Moyo went on to re-apply to work for the same person he was demonising with an archive of precious articles for political  historians. So who is wise now?

Moyo’s failure to “raise” Zanu PF from its “Lazarus moment” is frustrating many in the party and is evidenced by a series of botched projects he undertook since his return.

Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,