I am tired, Mugabe says to Enos Nkala

Nkala, a Zanu PF founding member and former Defence, Finance and Home Affairs minister, met Mugabe behind closed doors at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport in Bulawayo on Friday evening.

In an interview with The Standard at his home in Woodville suburb yesterday, the former nationalist divulged the details of their surprise meeting, saying the one hour-long conversation with Mugabe touched mainly on Zanu-PF succession politics, the inclusive government and the future of the country.

Nkala said Mugabe told him he wanted to retire but was too scared that Zanu-PF would collapse.

“From what we discussed, Mugabe said he is tired and wants to retire but he cannot do so now because Zanu-PF will die,” he said. “He cannot leave when the party is in such a state. What is holding him now is managing and containing Zanu-PF to prevent it from disintegrating.”

Nkala said Mugabe was managing the party politics to ensure that there was no chaos in the country, while other people close to him were pressuring him to continue leading despite his desire to rest.

“My own reading is that if he had his own way, he could have quit and taken a rest but circumstances around him and implications of what might happen are holding him,” he said. “My own reading is that the President is not his own man.”

However, Nkala refused to name the people close to Mugabe who were urging him not to quit.

He however disclosed that Mugabe confided in  him that he was yet to find a successor within Zanu PF, who could lead the party and keep the country united.

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“He said he has not yet found a successor with  qualities to hold the party and the country together. Politics is a dangerous game. It is not a sport where the leadership of a party should just exchange hands without proper grooming and handling,” said Nkala.

Mugabe, according to Nkala, said factionalism was eating away at the party and, “if not handled properly,” could explode into a civil war.

“Mugabe did refer to factions and that they are eating away the party. He said Zanu PF is no longer united,” Nkala said. “From our discussion, this issue (succession) is very dicey. This will produce an ugly situation in the end, if not managed properly. It is not a good thing. It can produce chaos, even a civil war and we do not want that.”

Nkala said although names of possible successors came up during the discussion, he would not mention them. “The basic thing is that he is looking for, or grooming someone who can handle Zanu PF and contain enemies associated with these factions for the sake of the party and the country,” he said.

Asked to comment on whether he thought Mugabe should retire, Nkala said after the meeting, he felt for “the sake of peace” that Mugabe should not go because “Zimbabwe came out of a conflict and not democracy and this gives a picture of what to expect if he goes now before the Zanu PF internal politics are managed properly.”

He said although he had been calling for Mugabe to retire, after the meeting, he was no longer sure whether he held the same views.

“We don’t want any civil war or chaos in this country,” Nkala said. “We want peace. It’s easy for people to say Mugabe must go, Mugabe must go, but most of them do not know that he is the glue that has been holding this country together.”

He said Mugabe should stay and manage the situation, arguing that people should not forget that the same people in the army, civil service, police and intelligence were the ones who fought the liberation war, hence they could not be divorced from the politics of the country.  “You need a good manager like Mugabe to keep these stakeholders together for the sake of the country,” said Nkala. “Small issues have sparked chaos in other countries and you cannot tell me that you think life will go on as usual if Mugabe dies today and someone takes over without managing such stakeholders.”