One has often wondered what drives senior Zanu PF (ZPF) and security people who are prepared to use violence to keep Robert Mugabe in power. We are constantly reminded of the nationalist credentials of those at the top of the ZPF side of government and at the top of the military machine (police, army, CIO). They often claim that they are protecting the country from those trying to give away the country to the British and American imperialists.
Now these claims have been put to question after Phillip Chiyangwa clearly stated why the ZPF big wigs and top military men are afraid of Mugabe losing power. In an article dated 21st November 2011 he is quoted in the Newsday as saying, “There is no Zanu PF politician or relative of the President with riches who feels safe (if Tsvangirai won) because MDC wants to pounce on us and on our businesses”. This clearly shows how under Mugabe they have been allowed to do their businesses without any oversight. The ‘lootocracy’ that Mugabe and ZPF created in their more than thirty years in government could be under threat if a new government comes to power. Anyone whose business dealings are above board would not fear the coming of a new government but those whose sudden fortunes cannot be explained have a lot to fear from the election of a new government. Men and women who have worked in public service for the last twenty to thirty years now have million dollar business empires that are not commensurate with their earnings in the last thirty years. Where did they get this kind of money?
The violence that we have witnessed in recent elections has nothing to do with ‘protecting the gains of the liberation struggle’; it has nothing to do with the fear that a new government will return the country to whites and imperialists. This is not an attempt to protect Zimbabwe. It is an unashamed attempt to protect the businesses and riches of the Zanu PF politicians or relatives of President Mugabe. The merchants of death and violence sponsoring and authoring violence in cities and villages are motivated by nothing other than selfish interests. The families that have lost homes and family members because they support the opposition MDC haven’t been targeted because they pose a threat to Zimbabwe but to the ‘riches’ of Mugabe’s men. What has been dubbed the Third or Fourth Chimurenga is a war to ensure that ZPF politicians are not asked to account for how they got their ‘riches’.
It is sickening that ZPF is willing to make Zimbabweans suffer in order to protect the riches of the few. The selfishness is staggering. This is how much ZPF politicians and the President’s relatives have lost touch with the ideals of the liberation struggle. Gutsaruzhinji is now Gutsavakuru. Judging by the tone of Chiyangwa’s address we can expect a bloody election campaign as ZPF politicians and their hangers on in the politicised army, police and secret service seek to keep ZPF in power. They will murder, torture and maim Zimbabweans to protect the riches of the ZPF ruling class. God help us all!
