✕ CLOSE Online Special City News Entrepreneurship Environment Factcheck Everything Woman Home Front Islamic Forum Life Xtra Property Travel & Leisure Viewpoint Vox Pop Women In Business Art and Ideas Bookshelf Labour Law Letters
Click Here To Listen To Trust Radio Live

Zimbabwe: Challenging Operation Crocodile consolidation

Zimbabwe’s first ever post-Mugabe elections have been won and lost. According to ZEC, the nation’s electoral umpire, the Crocodile, Emerson Mnangagwa won the polls by…

Zimbabwe’s first ever post-Mugabe elections have been won and lost. According to ZEC, the nation’s electoral umpire, the Crocodile, Emerson Mnangagwa won the polls by just enough votes margin to avoid a run-off with his closest rival, Nelson Chamisa. That puts the old ZANU-PF back in the saddle and the opposition MDC-Alliance back in opposition. As far as MDC’s Chamisa is concerned, he secured the mandate of the people and expects to lead the country if not by votes, at least through the courts. As a busybody viewing the whole shindig far from Harare, I declare that none of the two candidates won the election, rather it is the longsuffering people of Zimbabwe who are winners. 

Though a pyrrhic victory because at least six people were killed in the electoral process, the first since the Crocodile eased out, Robert Mugabe. The polls follow a sad denouement in which African elections are won with human casualties. It is sad that selected candidates soon lose their humanity in their obsession with power. In that quest, it matters little how many lives are lost. Contestants are blinded by the spoils of a win to seriously bother about the means of getting there. Very scant attention is paid to the lives of the people. This forces one to the conclusion that in Africa, it is usually the spoils of office that attracts people, not the zeal to make the difference in the lives of the electorate.

It was like a dream in 2011 when South Sudan won the right to become the continent’s youngest nation. Finally they had their wish. But once John Garang, the pioneer president was killed, all hell broke lose. The new country that should have been a shinning example of why every village must be a country suddenly flew off the peace radar. Anarchy and war has characterized every accord signed between the two dominant warmongers – Salva Kirr and Riek Machar. It forces the question – if you get your wish to be the leader of your country, would your country be happy that you’ve become its leader?

Back to Zimbabwe, after acknowledging the mayhem that was unleashed, Chamisa has vowed to meet Mnangagwa in court leaving two options to Mnangagwa. The Crocodile could reach deep into his pouch of tricks that every pretender to African leadership carries and throw off a slice of the governance pie to silence the opposition. He could throw the challenge to state-sponsored lawyers whose antics, adjournments and appeals could bankrupt the challenger. He could take his oath of office and continue, unfazed. 

In the interim, both have acknowledged the violence. Like Buhari, Mnangagwa basically absolved himself and his government of blame. He has not fired his police chief. He is unlikely to institute an inquiry that could lead to anyone being fired. In Africa, security agents kill the people they’re supposed to protect just to show their loyalty to those who appointed them without repercussions. So, relax racist American cops!

For the dead and their grieving families, nothing done or undone now would undo the deed that has been done. Zimbabwe as a nation must forge ahead. It’s economy is still on its knees no thanks to the sanctions that greeted Mugabe’s intransigence. That economy cannot rally on its own without foreign endorsement and assistance. Indeed, no African nation would ever be anything without foreign assistance and endorsement. That is the painful way the continent was primed to dysfunction by those who forcefully took it over, plundered, partition and continue to call the shots after flag independence. They left a system ensured to run on the altruism of stooges. 

If an olive branch is stretched out to Chamisa and his group, they would do well to grab it with both hands. ZANU-PF under Mugabe and after him has been primed to be the dominant force in Zimbabwean politics. In spite of dragging down the growth of the country, it remains a dominant force for the masses. It was formed on nationalism and raised on the diet of hope. It has been fertilized on the ignorance and the lack of exposure of the majority of its supporters. There is only one way to dismantle it’s dominance – it is with good governance that comes with altruistic leadership by example. This is what Chamisa must work on in the areas it controls to steal the show from the leviathan.

Chamisa is a young leader. If good governance and development is his central focus, he has until the next electoral cycle to register a credible alternative to the ruling clique in the minds of the electorate. He owes this chance to Mnangagwa who sponsored a coup that succeeded but chose to consolidate his hold on power by organizing elections. Court cases are good because they help the tree of democracy grow. Good governance is goldfish to the electorate; it helps them make better choices at every electoral cycle. 

In Chamisa’s shoes, I’ll go back and consolidate on the areas I have control ensuring that the people did not merely change a party but that the one they have chosen runs a blueprint that is people and development-centered. If his party fails at this, it would keep grasping at central-power like a drowning man clinging to straw for survival. Wily experience might not be on his side right now, but youth is. One could only wish him the best of luck as he grows his political fortune and future for his party.

VERIFIED: It is now possible to live in Nigeria and earn salary in US Dollars with premium domains, you can earn as much as $12,000 (₦18 Million).
Click here to start.