FORMER Deputy Drime Minister in the inclusive government, Arthur Mutambara has claimed that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s “coup-based government” was not yet ready to surrender power to civilians.
“They committed treason in 2017, are they ready now to give
up power? This is our dilemma in Zimbabwe,” Mutambara said during a virtual
public discussion hosted by the Southern Africa Political Economy Series
(Sapes) Trust last Thursday which discussed the topic The Stampede towards 2023
Elections: is history about to repeat itself again in Zimbabwe.
“They are now coup-proofing and consolidating power, hence
the constitutional amendments. 2018 had to be won by any means necessary by the
regime because it couldn’t institute a coup and hand over power to the
opposition. 2023, what’s new? We are still in the context of a coup. Why would
you think the junta is ready now to surrender power to civilians? That is our
dilemma in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Former Zanu PF politburo member and ex-Higher Education
minister Jonathan Moyo said the ruling party was in panic mode ahead of the
2023 elections and will use every trick in the book to win the polls.
Moyo said the 2023 elections would be won by cartels
controlling fuel, foreign currency and food and who would come in handy for
Zanu PF. He said cartels who were holding all the key economic fundamentals
were linked to Zanu PF.
“Now these are controlled by cartels which have emerged
since the coup and all the cartels are very much connected with the State and
Zanu PF,” Moyo, who is in exile after allegedly fleeing from attempted
assassination by the military during the 2017 coup, said.
He said Zanu PF and the Douglas Mwonzora-led MDC-T were
afraid of elections and this was evident by the immobilisation of the
opposition.
“The judiciary has gone deeper into that crisis by its
involvement in the party politics, the politics of major parties — the MDC
Alliance and Zanu PF — notably through the controversial and dubious March 30
2020 Supreme Court judgment which had two implications that affect whether or
not the next election will be history repeating itself,” he said.
According to a report published by South African
publication Daily Maverick in February, Zimbabwe is under the control of
cartels across various economic sectors, including mining, energy, transport
and agriculture.
Moyo said the ramifications of the Supreme Court in
Parliament where Zanu PF, previously without a two-thirds majority, now had an
upper hand courtesy of its alliance with Mwonzora’s
MDC-T.
“You cannot rationally project a free and fair election
against the background of a demobilised and immobilised opposition and this is
not being done by Zanu PF – it is the securocrats, in particular the CIOs,” he
said.
But Zanu PF immediately rubbished Moyo’s claims, with party
national spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo saying the former government spin doctor
was “hallucinating”.
Moyo said the former Higher Education minister should not
be taken seriously, adding that the ruling party was preoccupied with
nation-building and defeating the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have no appetite to respond to Jonathan Moyo’s
hallucinations. He can continue whistling in a graveyard wherever he is,” Moyo
said. Newsday
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