President Robert Mugabe will on Wednesday gather his supporters in Harare, not to rally them to breathe life into an economy he has reduced to a laughing-stock after 36 years of misrule, but to preserve his life-presidency.
Standard Comment
The so-called million-man march is being organised by Zanu PF youths linked to the G40 faction that has close links to First Lady Grace Mugabe.
Grace believes a rival faction linked to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa is determined to unseat Mugabe through foul means that include killing her children.
She has made this everyone’s problem because of her proximity to State power.
The governing party has been locked in these factional wars since the last elections in 2013 at the expense of the economy, which has taken a serious knock, with the worsening cash shortages being the most visible symptom.
Mugabe has not shown any urgency in dealing with the nascent problems because he is only worried about remaining in power at whatever cost at the instigation of his wife.
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He confirmed this on Friday when he told the Fort Hare University centenary celebrations in South Africa that he would not relinquish power because he wants to fight a regime change agenda.
Mugabe has made the same excuse since around 2000 and even kindergarten children now know that it’s a ruse.
The 92-year-old ruler believes he is ordained to rule for life, even at a time when the rest of Africa has moved away from the era of strongmen.
As usual, his Zanu PF will use deceit and fear to coerce thousands of unemployed young people to travel to Harare to march against imaginary enemies.
There are reports that in Bulawayo Zanu PF has been promising the youths that they would be given housing stands for taking part in the march.
These are the same youths that the ruling party promised two million jobs when Mugabe sought re-election in 2013.
It is worth mentioning that not a single job has been created two years before another election — where Mugabe is certain to run for another term. The economy continues to bleed jobs, as it dies.
War veterans, who since 2000 have played a storm troopers role in Mugabe’s Machiavellian machinations to hang on to power, initially dismissed the march as unnecessary power games by G40 and they were right.
However, as expected, the former fighters were whipped into line by securocrats who are major players in Mugabe’s selfish power-retention scheme.
The main agenda of the organisers of the march is to show Mnangagwa and his allies that G40 has the numbers in the war to succeed Mugabe, nothing else.
Mugabe knows the real reasons for the march, but will not stop it because he knows it will serve his interests.
In today’s Zimbabwe, a leader who cares would be galvanising his countrymen to fight corruption, hunger and rising unemployment, but Mugabe prefers a situation where the country is always in election mode.
He does not appreciate the enormity of the problems facing this country and this is why he sees no problem in flying to Singapore more than he visits his rural home in Zvimba.
The so-called million-man march is yet another confirmation that Zimbabweans that believe Mugabe will rescue them from the man-made disaster he created through misrule are wasting their time.
