RETURNING Zanu PF liberation stalwart, Rugare Gumbo, has implored President Emmerson Mnangagwa to join hands with the
opposition and other social formations to end the country’s deepening political
and economic crises.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily News yesterday,
Gumbo — the only surviving member of Zanu PF’s liberation struggle Dare
reChimurenga (War Council) — said Mnangagwa and the ruling party needed to
engage with the opposition and civil society groups in the interest of the
country.
This comes as Zimbabwe is in the grip of a ginormous
economic crisis, its worst in a decade, which has stirred restlessness among
long-suffering citizens.
Gumbo’s call also comes as more and more people — including
senior Zanu PF bigwigs — have been calling for the formation of a government of
national unity (GNU) to end the country’s myriad challenges.
“This (dialogue and unity) is something that some of us
have always believed in, because the country is facing many difficult
challenges. The economy is not performing well and we are also faced
with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There is, therefore, a need to put our heads together as
Zimbabweans — all political parties, intellectuals and churches, among other
stakeholders,” Gumbo told the Daily News.
“A transitional mechanism is the most ideal way forward,
and what is needed is wide stakeholder consultations to come up with the
modalities of how that can be implemented.
“We can blame individuals for the failure to steer the
country forward, but when we want solutions we have a collective
responsibility,” he added.
Speaking to the Daily News in October last year, Gumbo also
made a similar call when he urged Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa to hold talks to
save the country from imploding.
“When you are facing challenges like this economic turmoil
you need unity. Unity doesn’t mean a structure like Polad (Political Actors’
Dialogue), as that’s not the way to do it.
“We are going nowhere … without Chamisa and Mnangagwa. Zanu
PF on its own cannot solve the current crisis. This crisis needs all
Zimbabweans to come together.
“Unity will unlock so much support from the international
community. It will also create a conducive environment for investment and
people will start to say these people are serious,” Gumbo told the Daily News
then.
“Most of these people in Zanu PF never went to war and they
don’t know that the crisis will not be solved by propaganda,” the affable war
veteran added.
This comes as the country’s economic crisis continues to
deepen, amid growing public disenchantment with the trajectory that Zimbabwe
remains locked in.
Two years after the country held historic elections,
Zimbabwe finds itself in the vice grip of a deteriorating economic crisis which
has seen the Zim dollar crashing against the United States dollar, barely a
year after it was surprisingly brought back by the government.
Only recently, the government all but signalled a return to
dollarisation after under-pressure Finance minister Mthuli Ncube awarded civil
servants and pensioners allowances in US dollars.
The decision came as the country’s economy is rapidly
approaching the horrors of a decade ago when the Zim dollar was decimated by
hyper-inflation — with the prices of most basic consumer goods now out of the
reach of ordinary citizens.
Then, Zimbabwe binned its worthless currency and introduced
the multi-currency system which was anchored by the US dollar.
Despite this system having served the country well for more
than a decade, Ncube rattled the markets in June last year when he prematurely
and ill-advisedly ended the local use of the US dollar and other foreign
currencies.
He directed at the time that the Zim dollar be the sole
legal tender in the country, without addressing the root causes of its crash
and subsequent decimation by hyper-inflation in the run-up to the consummation
of the 2009 short-lived but stability-inducing GNU.
Meanwhile, and regarding his return to Zanu PF, Gumbo said
contrary to what the ruling party’s acting spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa had
said, he had not applied to rejoin the party but was “invited back”.
“I have not been informed officially except that Chinamasa
called me to confirm.
“I told him that it is not possible for me to have applied
to join Zanu PF because I came a long way from the formation of this party into
the liberation struggle.
“I was forced out by (the late former president Robert)
Mugabe and there is no way I can apply to rejoin,” Gumbo told the Daily News
yesterday.
“I understand the Midlands Province recommended to the
politburo that I be allowed back, but to say I applied is wrong.
“However, if the province feels I must come back, that is
not a problem. I wait to get an official communication from them,” he added.
Chinamasa confirmed Gumbo’s readmission on Saturday saying
this development would strengthen Zanu PF.
“The Zanu PF Midlands Province has recommended the
re-admission of Rugare Gumbo, a former member of the Dare ReChimurenga
following his application to re-join the party.
“There is no doubt that the party, being the oldest
political organisation founded by the people for the people, would welcome
Gumbo heartily back to the revolutionary family he helped to found and to which
he was part of at a senior level in the prosecution of the liberation
struggle,” Chinamasa said.
Gumbo was in 2014 hounded out Zanu PF together with other
party stalwarts — including former vice president Joice Mujuru and former
Cabinet minister and the party’s then secretary for administration Didymus
Mutasa — over fabricated allegations of plotting to oust Mugabe from power.
Mujuru unsuccessfully tried to enter opposition politics
following her sacking and has since gone quiet, amid claims that she has quit
politics.
On his part, Mutasa has also been re-admitted back into
Zanu PF. Daily News
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