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President Mugabe must make clear his retirement plan now
Jack Zaba
September 02, 2009

The head of state and government, commander-in-chief of the defence forces, supreme leader of Zimbabwe-s liberation struggle, patron of all war veterans associations, vice-chancellor of all state universities and first secretary of ZANU PF inter alia, His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe is indeed an amazing man. His omnipotence is quite enviable.

Listening to the ZBC News Bulletins or reading from any of the state-controlled newspapers like the Herald has suddenly become interesting, especially when they are referring to President Mugabe. Put succinctly, it appears they all got a similar order from unknown sources that they should title him as "the head of state and government and commander in chief of the defence forces President Robert Gabriel Mugabe".

Questions are abound why the sudden need to lay out someone-s constitutionally enshrined job description every time you want to address him. What was amiss in just calling him the President of Zimbabwe? Is it a resurgence of the chronic legitimacy crisis that has been haunting the incumbent since 2000? Or simply it is a clear exhibition of fear from losing power?

Zimbabwe has been undergoing a tumultuous political epoch that has fathered a myriad of socio-economic crisis since independence. Lives have been lost in thousands, limbs broken, citizens maimed and raped, elections stolen and a whole cocktail of problems created. And the genesis of all this is that incessant and insatiable love for political power, an undying belief by some people or a group of people that they were divinely ordained to rule Zimbabwe in as long as they still breathe, and perhaps even if they face the natural demise of life, their bones and ghosts must be in power.

Each time I read or hear our President so referred, I get too scared, my heart pounds. Zimbabweans have of late been rejuvenated following the advent of the coalition government which consummated in February 2009. Normalcy have indeed returned to most aspects of our lives, our shops have filled up, fuel stations resumed doing their normal business, and workers are now getting salaries, albeit being meager.

It is indeed important to acknowledge that the compromise transitional authority running Zimbabwe -s affairs currently is a consequence of the dearth of political legitimacy on the part of President Mugabe. And partial legitimacy was then restored on him after capitulating to both local and international pressures to share power with the erstwhile opposition MDC. The power sharing pact was predicated on the need for the cessation of hostilities, at least on the surface amongst the political enemies in order to place Zimbabwe back on the road to political and economic reform. So has been the case, as all belligerents to the compromise government have at least pretended in some instances acting to that effect.

However there appears to be an unbridled perpetuation of digging in habits by one of the signatories, ZANU PF and President Mugabe. To understand the reasons behind the sudden need to multi-title President Robert Mugabe, typical Idi Amin, it is important to understand the power dynamics and power skirmishes he is going through.

President Mugabe and his political party are enmeshed in both internal and external power struggles. Apparently, President Mugabe is fighting nearly a dozen battles in protection or sustainance of his hard won and god-given power.

The first battle is within his person. Over a decade has passed with our dear President ruling on a questionable legitimacy. Controversial elections are metaphorically like an unseasoned or unsalted relishes, which although it can fill one-s stomach it doesn-t taste good at all. This absence of legitimacy has been haunting and hounding him pervasively throughout the last decade.

With the coalition government he managed to claim partial legitimacy as the head of this great nation, but the ghost of illegitimacy constantly remind him of the ills of last year, it consistently pokes his conscience-s nerve, his humanity and morality. At every thought of his legitimacy he is left dejected, frustrated and angered. He is one person, who has religiously believed in himself and his achievements during and after the war of liberation that he never at one point of his life imagined that Zimbabweans whom he so much died for would one day decide to sideline him from presiding over the political affairs of this country. This really irritates him.

Having realized that although the global political agreement conferred on him some lost legitimacy; most people still struggle to acknowledge him in their hearts as the legitimate leader of this country. Therefore if no one bothers to recognize him as the great leader of the nation, then the way to go is self-glorification. It is eternally gratifying to hear people calling you in mega titles. So whosoever advised the dear leader told him that legitimacy is not given on a silver plate, but it is grabbed, claimed or stolen. Similarly to them power is not given, but it is taken with the hope of never returning it.

Indeed this is the highest stage of demagogue and dictatorship. The measure of any insatiability with power begins when someone starts enjoying hearing himself being given grandiose titles and false praise. If you see that happening even within a family, you should be very scared!

The second battle is directed at the international community. By calling himself in grandiose titles he takes every opportunity to remind his so called detractors that he is firmly in control of the goings on in the country. This emanates from a deep seated inferiority complex within a person. It is a stage where the dear leader is abhorrently saturated with claims in the international community that even within the GNU he has lost control of the government, the state and his beloved defence forces. So by constantly attaching his name to the state, government and defence forces he wishes to remind both local and international ingrates that ari panyanga (he is firmly in control). If anyone doesn-t agree, let him or her challenge the President over these titles.

His third battle for legitimacy is directed towards the leaders of the defence forces. By consistently harping on himself being the commander in chief of the defence forces President Mugabe wishes at first, to remind and warn the service chiefs that he is their senior, therefore he doesn-t brook any form of insubordination either by trying to salute the Premier Honorable Morgan Tsvangirai or even pretending to be working with him. On another front President Mugabe is trying dispel mistruths and misconceptions doing the rounds that it is actually the service chiefs as epitomized in the legally moribund, but practically existent Joint Operations Command, who marionette him, and are the ones running the affairs of the country. He wants the world to know that it was him who came with the idea of the ruthless presidential run-off campaign, it was after his instruction that Prison Commissioner General Paradzai Zimhondi declared that he was prepared to take up arms and go back to the war if Morgan Tsvangirai was to win the second round of elections. His effort in this battle for legitimacy is to try and convince both the service chiefs and the people of Zimbabwe that it is the service chiefs who take orders from him, and not the other way round as widely held by many people.

President Mugabe-s fourth legitimacy battle is within the realm of the inclusive government itself. It is important to remember that the protracted negotiations for the creation of the global political agreement centered heavily on who would wield what power, and how much within the coalition government. Although the negotiators managed to reach a compromise position that both the President and the Prime Minister share executive powers, the perpetual mistrust between the two centers of power goes on unabated. President Mugabe perceives the aspect of sharing power with a former opposition party leader as good as defeat. Although it is clear within the GNU that the President wields more power over the Premier, by virtue of being the latter-s appointing authority, the ghost of illegitimacy comes to haunt him to the extent that at some moments President Mugabe suffers from bouts of inferiority complex towards the Prime Minister. Indeed he is battling to be more acceptable to the people that the Premier, but maybe good counsel tells him that the Premier seems more appealing to both Zimbabweans and the international community to the extent that it threatens to wipe off the negotiated legitimacy he has that emanated from the GNU. He justifiably gets frustrated at such a reality. He is not comfortable with the Prime Minister being Head of Government, he recalls himself in 1980, as Prime Minister he was in control of everything with Canaan Banana assuming a ceremonial role. President Mugabe doesn-t want history to repeat itself this time around. So by continuously reminding people that he is both head of state and government he is trying to tell that this time around, unlike in 1980 and unlike Canaan Sodindo Banana his Presidential office is more powerful and in charge. It is such battles within his mind that force him to want to claim legitimacy and power. Unfortunately legitimacy is conferred on the leaders by the people; if leaders try to annoint themselves with assumed legitimacy it usually becomes catastrophic.

His fifth power struggle falls squarely at Shake Shake House, the ZANU PF Headquarters where the house is apparently in conflagration. Problems within this institution have been the springboards of misfortune not only for the party, but for Zimbabwe as well. It is however clear that in this instance President Mugabe, who is also first secretary of ZANU PF is not facing any threat on his crown from anyone in the party, the only threat he suffers from emanates from long incumbency and old age. Indeed no one else in the party can stand against him. Be that as it may, he still presides over an exploding situation with people clandestinely jockeying towards his saddle. No one wants to come out clear on their intentions to replace the ageing leaders as doing so is obviously suicidal. Those aspiring to be at the helm have adopted the behaviour of a vulture which has the patience to wait for a dying animal to meet its fate in order to feast on it. President Mugabe is now surrounded by parasites and cunning vampires who are praying for him to be sidelined either by death or retirement. I have no doubt that he is aware of all that, but he has the unenviable task of steadying the ship and leave the party in stability. This is indeed giving him a headache, a painful one. A whole lot of theories and conspiracies emanate from Mugabe`s apparent failure to handle ZANU PF's leadership reproductive system.

It is poignantly clear that President Mugabe is embroiled in a vicious power struggle, against all circles. President Mugabe and his political party are enmeshed in both internal and external power struggles. On one end Zimbabwe -s leader is trying, with remarkable failure to end power hostilities within his party, much as he is trying to shield off his power sharing partners from enjoying the modicum of power they are entitled to within the coalition government. He is all the more battling for recognition by the very people he purports to be leading. He is handling several battles, and this saps him of his zeal and will to be the effective custodian of the nation-s future.

There should come a time when President Mugabe must effectively deal with his power struggles within ZANU PF. It is important at this juncture to correct the apparently failed succession policy within his party. I couldn-t agree further with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that President Mugabe is indeed part of a solution to the problems bedeviling Zimbabwe . Yes he is, and the biggest part he should play is to come to a realization, as an elder statesman, look back at the great work he did for the nation, as well as the moments of weaknesses he encountered. Having done that he should be honorable enough to lay clear his retirement plans to both ZANU PF and Zimbabwe at large.

It is important to note that the crux of Zimbabwe -s problems has been failed leadership renewal structures. The obtaining transitional period presided over by the GNU gives correctional opportunities to all the participants to exorcise themselves of the ills of the past decades. It now calls for men and women of valour and virtue to acknowledge failures of the past and chat a new way forward for the nation. And this can not be achieved if the political protagonists continue behaving in the ways of the old. I submit that for Zimbabwe to move forward President Mugabe should lay clear his retirement intentions, if he has any, at the forthcoming ZANU PF congress and then to the nation thereafter. This is indeed the only way to exorcise himself of the ghost of illegitimacy that haunts him so perpetually. Zimbabwe cannot afford to recycle and repeat the causes of our problems which culminated into the current political compromise amongst parties known as the government of national unity. It-s time to reflect on the causes of the political problems bedeviling Zimbabwe , and then work harder to correct the mistakes.

* Jack Zaba is a Harare based Political Scientist. You can contact him on zabajack@yahoo.com

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