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Tichaona Zindoga Political Editor
President Mugabe is a modest leader. Perhaps he cannot help it, being every inch a gentleman by way of dress, speaking and his statesmanship. One shudders to think what some people, including his contemporaries, would do having all the levers of state power.

For all we know, he is the face of the revolutionary Zanu-PF and he could as well have christened it in his name, the way one Morgan Tsvangirai has done with this MDC-T party, the suffix “T” standing for Tsvangirai.

But President Mugabe would conceivably never do that.

What an African “dictator” he is!

It should be remarked that President Mugabe’s elevation of the party and the people and his primary pursuit of unity and cohesion in the party and country are what has held this country together.

At Independence he pursued the policy of reconciliation and had a hybrid government composed of former opponents.

He was to show the same leadership in 1987 when he championed the Unity Accord, and the unity Government.

Again, in 2009 he allowed the country to come first when he allowed the opposition MDC formations to share power and governance in that forgettable marriage called the inclusive Government.

A running trait in all this is President Mugabe’s accommodation of various interests, which sometimes even hurt his own ego.

It is common cause, for example, that President Mugabe felt humiliated and annoyed to work with Tsvangirai but accepted that it had to be done as the prize was bigger than the price.

Now, don’t we all wish all leaders and members in the ruling party were like this gentleman politician?

If truth be told, the ruling party is suffering from an acutely anaemic deficit of gentlemen, visionaries and statesmen.

You do not have to look further than the bane of factionalism that is currently afflicting the party.

And to highlight the crisis, President Mugabe addressed the issue as he touched down at Harare International Airport from the United Nations last week.

He urged women and youths to resist factionalism and be wary of those pursuing factionalist plots, which, as seen in recent weeks, have only but thickened.

He said: “Others will come to you, telling you what to do and whom to support, but we should be guided by the party’s values and principles.”

President Mugabe has always advocated for the elevation of the party ahead of individuals.

Most importantly, he does not even put himself first.

A few examples from the past couple of months alone will suffice.

In June he told the Youth League national assembly that:

“If you are choosing between my two Vice-Presidents, you are beginning your own Gamatox. They (the VPs) occupy equal sphere. If you say you want this one to succeed, you are already bringing division within the people and this so soon after our election.

The people will choose when the time comes, and you will be part of that process, but don’t get divided by that question now.”

In August he amplified this message thus: “You don’t have to belong to someone.

“You don’t even belong to me. You belong to Zanu-PF. I am only your leader. I am a member of Zanu-PF, so are you. But you have made me your leader.”

Now, in the midst of the current infighting in the ruling party, it would have been very useful for the leaders to take this to heart.

In fact, what is happening is the very antithesis of what the President preaches.

First, there are people that have openly come out backing certain individuals.

As we speak people are tearing into each other and various social media platforms are blazing with these wars.

Physical fights have erupted among youths aligned to rival factions.

We should not be surprised if one day some lethal fire is drawn.

The trajectory is worrying.

It only stands to reason that those pursuing factionalism, some of them openly and without a sense of shame, are in a combat not only with the ideals of President Mugabe but against his person as well.

At any rate how can someone pretend to love the party and President Mugabe yet undermine the same?

President Mugabe does not need any endorsement because the people and the party have done that.

It came as little surprise then that President Mugabe last Thursday talked about the re-emergence of weevils.

Some never went away in the first place and it is a reality that now has to be dealt with if the party is to remain focused, especially with elections on the horizon.

It becomes worrying when a whole ruling party, which is charged with implementing its winning policies, is identifiable with nasty cat-fights.

Equally, it becomes worrying when the same grand old party members are recognised not for what they stand for but a faction they belong to.

It has now come to a situation where some ruling party cadres are not selling the ideals of the party and pursuing its programmes but hell-bent on pursuing parochial agendas.

Sadly, too, even individuals we thought knew better because of the strength of their intellect, have reduced themselves to factional activists and do so without any sense of shame.

Where you would imagine brilliant individual would use the currency of their superior intellect they have come to use unorthodox and unacceptable means such as abusing the name of the First Lady.

On that score, isn’t this a clear and unambiguous rebuttal of, and rebellion against President Mugabe, who himself has said he does not need to own people?

He has said so times without a number, this modest leader.

He does not need to because his leadership wins him the support and hearts of the people.

His message, programmes and policies have all contributed to his continued love among the people of Zimbabwe and to defeat the opposition.

As the party fights the mortal danger of factionalism, which is playing out right before his eyes, President Mugabe should be entrusted to act and act now.

With time running fast and inexorably in light of the economic challenges facing the country which need urgent attention, it would be useful for President Mugabe to deploy that famed fist against factionalism.

The people are waiting for that.

There are far better things to be done than watch this senseless soap opera going without end.

Meanwhile, those pursuing factionalism must stop and show what they can contribute to the party and country rather than distinguish themselves in dirty little schemes that ultimately do not serve the country.

That is not revolutionary and that is certainly not Zanu-PF.