Zimpapers Logo

They say a week is a long time in politics. It is a self-evident truth!

Exactly last week we were wondering what would happen following the debacle at Joice Mujuru’s National People’s Party where two of her officials, presidential spokesperson Gift Nyandoro and party spokesman Jealousy Mawarire had an embarrassing street brawl.

The cause of their brawl, on the face of it, was who should speak officially regarding the party’s approach towards a collation with other parties, primarily with Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T.

The nasty discord ended with the two men exchanging blows, with Mawarire apparently getting the better of Nyandoro, who walked off with a dislodged knee cap and other pains that needed medical attention.

And we posed what would happen to these two street brawlers with the possible charges of indiscipline and bringing the name of the party into disrepute hanging over their heads.

“Will Jealousy fall? Will Nyandoro fall? Or both of them, for that matter?” we asked.

“And if Mawarire falls, it will be a tragic-comic end of the Harare man whose fame was causing the courts to compel Zimbabwe to hold elections in 2013. It is that incident that led to his relationship with Mujuru, from what we hear, until the present.”

Or let’s just say before Gift Nyandoro happened.

As is now common knowledge, Mawarire has blinked first.

Two days ago, Mawarire tendered his resignation from both his position as spokesperson and party membership.

His letter was the tragicomedy that we predicted.

Mawarire is a proud fellow.

Yet there is an equal poignancy in it all.

He is a victim of his commitment to Joice – just as we pointed out – and in the letter he tries too hard to show his loyalty and undying love for Mujuru.

But there is a ringing sense of disappointment and betrayal.

Mujuru did not appear too sympathetic to Mawarire .

She stood by Nyandoro.

She would not condemn him.

She appeared to condone the “thuggish” behaviour that so stung Mawarire which would be exhibited in her presence.

Mawarire couldn’t take, stand it, it anymore.

He quit.

His letter is full of tears that are hidden beneath his pride.

You can trust that very soon, Mawarire will be telling us so many details about the state of affairs at NPP.

Boy, can’t we wait!

We are told he is having a press conference on Monday, having gone all the way to his rural Bikita where we hope he gets some autochthonous wisdom to navigate his way from here.

Fall of the biggest thug?

We said a week is too long a time in politics.

If we forget for a moment the child’s play that is really what we are seeing in Mujuru’s party or even the MDC-T of Morgan Tsvangirai, we know, quite familiarly, that the real game is on in Zanu-PF.

You can gauge the importance of an organisation or movement judging by the imagination it captures in the country.

Sorry to say, not sorry really, but the fact is that the ruling Zanu-PF party is the one that determines the pulse of this country.

Now, for the past week or so the country’s attention has been gripped by what has been going on in the ruling party.

It is a great moment in history.

Two prominent women, Eunice Sandi-Moyo and Sarah Mahoka tendered their resignations from their positions – deputy chair and finance secretary respectively – over a slew of allegations they faced.

Of the two, Mahoka is the more notorious one having behaved like a street woman with the lowest ebb being that time she dressed down VP Emmerson Mnangagwa in front of President Mugabe.

Mahoka and Moyo’s ignominous downfall has been a smaller sideshow.

The biggest show concerns the unfortunate circumstances of that guy who once called himself the biggest thug in Zimbabwe and is known by the moniker of a former heavyweight boxer.

We are talking about Saviour Kasukuwere.

He is in trouble: as we speak demonstrations from his home town of Bindura to Midlands and Bulawayo have headlined what could become the biggest fall from the political echelons since 2014 when Joice Mujuru was dismissed for planning to topple President Mugabe.

Tyson has been accused of the same.

He faces his Waterloo.

It is that serious.

A few days ago, when protests against him reached fever pitch, we hear that the self-proclaimed biggest thug was taken ill, suffering from hypertension.

How things change!

How the mighty have fallen!

With a petition to have him fired now in the hands of the party, Tyson’s fate is very much sealed.

He will need all our prayers.

Or the intervention of a political god to save his skin: apparently it is not as hard as we all thought it was!

His claim to political thuggery has been severely tested and he has been found wanting.

You should have seen Bindura, of all places!

Who would have ever imagined?

But we all saw it coming when he ranted against The Herald the other time: he just could not hold his nerve and went on the tirade and even resorted to throwing expletives at our reporters.

He must be having sweaty nights.

This week did not see him being expelled from the party – but that is hardly some comfort.

It only means that his agony is being extended.

Like someone sitting on death row.

Agonisingly.