Zimbabweans must not be mere spectators in their nation’s political future

A few days ago, I came across a social media post by one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent journalists in which he openly expressed excitement at the prospect of ZANU-PF factional battles intensifying.

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In his own words, he found joy in the growing rift between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy, General Constantino Chiwenga, interpreting the ruling party’s internal squabbles as “squeaky bum time.”

What struck me most was not merely his statement, but the fact that it resonated with countless ordinary Zimbabweans who rushed to comment, laugh, and cheer at the unfolding drama.

This is not an uncommon phenomenon in our country.

For decades, Zimbabweans have been glued to ZANU-PF factional wars, watching them with the same fascination as one would a soap opera, convinced that somehow the outcome of these fights would positively affect their lives.

We have, time and again, reduced our future, our hopes, and even our sense of liberation to the internal fights of a party that has brought us nothing but untold misery.

These struggles have indeed been front-row seat material, filled with spectacular mudslinging, backstabbing, and betrayals.

But after the curtains have closed on each act, nothing has changed for the ordinary Zimbabwean.

We remain impoverished, disenfranchised, and oppressed, while ZANU-PF in one form or another continues to rule with impunity.

Let us take a walk down memory lane.

In 2014, Zimbabwe witnessed the dramatic downfall of then Vice President Joice Mujuru.

After years of open hostility, first lady Grace Mugabe, in cahoots with Emmerson Mnangagwa, convinced Robert Mugabe that Mujuru was plotting a palace coup.

What followed was an ugly purge, characterized by vicious name-calling, mass dismissals, and character assassinations.

Mnangagwa ultimately emerged as vice president, but not for long.

His alliance with Grace, as was predictable in ZANU-PF politics, turned sour almost immediately.

Their “marriage of convenience” ended as soon as they had removed Mujuru from the succession race, leaving Mnangagwa and Grace to lunge at each other’s throats.

This culminated in 2017 with Mnangagwa’s dismissal as vice president after being accused, like Mujuru before him, of plotting against Mugabe.

Within two weeks, the military staged a coup d’état that toppled Mugabe after 37 years in power.

The architect of that coup was none other than General Chiwenga, who had calculated that the world would not easily accept a uniformed man directly seizing power.

Mnangagwa, who had fled to South Africa fearing for his life, was invited back and installed as president.

Again, this was another “marriage of convenience.”

Chiwenga, who harbored his own presidential ambitions, was widely believed to have entered into a gentleman’s agreement with Mnangagwa that he would rule for only one term before handing over the reins.

But, as has become the DNA of ZANU-PF politics, promises mean nothing when the taste of power is on the lips.

Mnangagwa appears to have reneged on his word, triggering a bitter struggle with his deputy.

Over the past year, this fight has escalated as Mnangagwa’s supporters have begun calling for constitutional amendments that would allow him to extend his rule beyond the two five-year term limit that ends in 2028.

Some even want him to rule until 2030 or for life.

An alternative scenario being touted is for Mnangagwa to push through constitutional amendments allowing a term extension, then immediately step down, paving the way for businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei to be installed as his anointed successor, who would then, in line with the Constitution, complete Mnangagwa’s unfinished term.

Tagwirei, seen as both a financial lifeline and guarantor of security for Mnangagwa’s allies, is believed to be the Karanga faction’s trump card against Chiwenga, who is Zezuru.

This strategy serves a dual purpose: on one hand, it keeps the presidency within Karanga hands, effectively blocking Chiwenga’s ambitions; on the other, it ensures that Mnangagwa and his clique of tenderpreneurs — who have amassed fortunes through murky deals, smuggling, and state capture — remain shielded from any retribution should Chiwenga ascend to power.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the plight of the ordinary Zimbabwean.

Yet, astonishingly, many Zimbabweans are waiting with bated breath, eagerly watching this drama unfold as though it were our own salvation.

Some are even openly rooting for Chiwenga to wrestle power from Mnangagwa, convinced that a change in the ruling party’s face at the top will mean something different for us.

Have we really become so useless as a people that we now take refuge in ZANU-PF internal squabbles?

Have we become so paralyzed by fear, so stripped of agency, that our only comfort is in watching one corrupt leader battle another, like spectators in a gladiatorial arena?

If so, then our situation is worse than I thought.

Let us not forget that in 2017, when the coup removed Mugabe, Zimbabweans flooded the streets of Harare in celebration.

People hugged soldiers, danced on tanks, and sang freedom songs.

They believed, foolishly, that a military-engineered change of guard within ZANU-PF marked the dawn of a new era.

I warned then, as did a few others, that this was nothing but a recycling of the same oppressive machinery.

Today, the same people who cheered the coup are lamenting that “Mugabe was better.”

Yet, astonishingly, they are still ready to repeat the same mistake by placing their hopes in another ZANU-PF faction.

The tragedy of our nation is that we have consistently mistaken factional purges for democratic breakthroughs.

When Ignatius Chombo was paraded before the courts on corruption charges after the coup, people believed a new Zimbabwe had been born.

Yet corruption has not only continued under the so-called “Second Republic,” it has worsened to unprecedented levels.

State capture by cartels has been normalized.

Looting of national resources is systemic.

Poverty has deepened.

Political repression has intensified.

Still, we dare to believe that another shuffle within ZANU-PF will save us.

Let us be honest with ourselves.

Neither Mnangagwa, Chiwenga, nor Tagwirei will ever deliver freedom, justice, or prosperity to Zimbabwe’s people.

They are cut from the same cloth, bound only by self-preservation and greed.

Chiwenga may even move against Mnangagwa’s tenderpreneurs, just as Mnangagwa once moved against the likes of Chombo—but this should never be mistaken for a genuine anti-corruption stance.

It would be motivated by retribution rather than principle.

After all, wasn’t his name, even while in the army, linked to several shady diamond mining deals involving the military?

To expect liberation from them is like expecting a leopard to shed its spots.

At best, a change of guard within ZANU-PF only reshuffles who eats the bigger slice of the cake, while the ordinary Zimbabwean remains locked out of the bakery altogether.

What Zimbabweans urgently need is not another round of factional fights but a total break from the ZANU-PF establishment.

We need a new political culture built on accountability, transparency, justice, and genuine service to the people.

We must stop outsourcing our liberation to one ZANU-PF faction against another, and finally recognize that true change can only come from us, the people.

We can no longer afford to be mere passengers in our own country, reduced to cheerleaders and spectators in battles that are not ours.

It is high time we rediscovered our agency, organized ourselves, and united to demand an entirely new beginning.

Our liberation will not come from Chiwenga humbling Mnangagwa, or Tagwirei shielding cartels.

Our liberation will come when Zimbabweans themselves, in their millions, stand up and say enough is enough.

Until then, if we continue to pin our hopes on factional wars within ZANU-PF, we are declaring to the world that we have truly become a useless people.

We will remain a nation of spectators, laughing at memes and political drama, while our children sink deeper into poverty, while hospitals rot, while jobs vanish, and while our freedoms are trampled upon.

The time has come to stop finding solace in the fights of our oppressors.

The time has come to rise and fight for our own liberation.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/