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Zanu -PF has remained committed to the economic empowerment of indigenous Zimbabweans

Isdore  Guvamombe Reflections
Back in the village, in the land of milk, honey and dust or Guruve, there is some factual truth that you cannot run away from. ZANU-PF has since its formation, shaped the political landscape of this country. It indeed carved Zimbabwe into what it is today through its policies and will continue doing so, as the sole ruling party.

The current noise and drama in Zanu-PF ranks is necessary foreplay and massage ahead of the congress slated for December.

Foreplay, by its nature, has no formula, but is both explosive and implosive and takes you there, eventually.

Today, this villager, the son of a peasant farmer, interprets from the village the goings on in Zanu-PF, the ruling party and epitome of resistance to colonialism, in its broad totality. Yes broad totality. Like it or hate it, ZANU-PF is ruling this country and therefore cannot escape the scrutiny of even the lowest standing villager, like me.

In the past month or so, there has been political drama, with theatrics ranging from verbal and physical abuse, mudslinging, bickering and backstabbing in the ranks and file of ZANU-PF. That is very normal in a thriving democratic party where actors are not sleeping. Foreplay!

The best political brains in Zimbabwe are in ZANU-PF, that is why it has largely been able to outwit world political heavyweights like the United States of America, Britain and the European Union.

This ZANU-PF, the villagers’ party, has been able to regenerate itself and to stand shoulder to shoulder with the national questions, each time they arose.

This is a congress year and the elective congress is just two moons away and so, it is expected that every living brain be ambitious. Of course, ambition is made of sterner stuff. Everyone in the party without a dead brain must seek some position of some sort. It is better to lose than do nothing about your ambition. That is politics and not Christianity. In Christianity and churchianity you can close your eyes and pray. In politics, you close your eyes and by the time you open them, the position you wanted is gone.

The media, our media, has mostly failed to put the so-called fights in Zanu-PF into context. These are not fights but a thriving democracy. This villager is a small fly in this game but back in the village, elders with cotton tuft hair say if you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.

ZANU-PF is a mature democracy, the party is alive. The party is full of thinkers and political actors, so much that if the current scenario was in a fragile party like MDC-T, there would have been 20 splits. But ZANU-PF is holding together.

Do our elders not say hoes digging the same hole cannot avoid knocking against each other? The good about it in ZANU-PF is that these are politicians, fighting to outmanoeuvre each other, within the party. That is what a thriving democracy is all about, especially when you go towards a congress. That must not be misread to mean that ZANU-PF is on the brink of collapse. NO!

Back in the village, Karitundundu, the ageless autochthon of wisdom and knowledge says even if buttocks are in constant friction they still love to and live together. Inseparable! Those who live together cannot hide their behinds from each other. Let ZANU-PF cadres fight for their right to positions in the party. That is democracy. It is wrong to paint the picture that what is happening in ZANU-PF today is bad. It is good for them to fight for those positions. Let the ambitious fight for the positions. At the end of the congress, which is not very far away, ZANU-PF will live.

No man, virtually no man, can know where he is going unless he knows where exactly he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.

Of course, this villager understands where detractors of the party are coming from when they adjudge, because a goat is never pronounced innocent if a judge is a leopard.

The best brains think. The best brains challenge and the best brains craft ideas and seek to implement them. Let the best brains in ZANU-PF challenge each other. Let them speak. Let them collide. Let them fight for dominance. It is internal politics. Very alive and very important!

The political dynamics in ZANU-PF are too complex. And, like groundnut, you need to crack it open and see what is inside. Zimbabweans need to unlock value from the goings on in ZANU-PF because it is never an offence in this mature democracy for anyone to challenge anyone. The best brains will eventually prevail and take leadership positions in the party.

Actually, in the village we encourage foreplay. The current bickering and mudslinging is foreplay.