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NUMBERS DON’T LIE . . .Considering the overwhelming support that President Mugabe received during the Million-Man March, it is mischievous of the opposition to call for a succession plan in zanu-pf

Gwinyai Mutongi Correspondent

What this means therefore is that the opposition parties have no moral latitude to prod zanu-pf to unveil a succession plan or effect leadership renewal when they do not have similar plans.

The unwarranted mounting pressure from opposition parties and some zanu-pf rejects for President Robert Mugabe to announce his succession plan is ill-advised.

It is mind boggling why opposition politicians are keen to face President Mugabe’s successor in the 2018 harmonised elections.

How could some ignoble opposition politicians, clergymen and former zanu-pf mandarins such as Godfrey Tsenengamu call on President Mugabe to appoint a successor, claiming that failure to do so would muddle the country’s economic fortunes?

Could it be that the opposition parties are once again afraid to face the unconquerable icon of Africa in future polls hence they are pushing for a weaker candidate to compete against?

Yes, they are scared of being drubbed once again given the overwhelming support the President has received during the Million Man March.

It is also unheard of that the succession debate of one party could be initiated and determined by its political rivals.

Where do the opposition politicians find the moral authority to prescribe a succession plan for zanu-pf?

It is not the business of opposition critics to guide the succession discourse in their rival parties as if there are clear succession demarcations in their own parties.

For all we know, all opposition parties have not had any leadership renewal which they are prescribing for zanu-pf.

In the MDC-T, there is no succession plan as Tsvangirai continues to be the face of the party since its inception, yet it is seeking to squeeze a succession plan from zanu-pf.

The same can be said of the MDC led by Professor Welshamn Ncube, Professor Lovemore Madhuku’s NCA, Simba Makoni’s Mavambo/Dawn/Kusile and many others, including quasi-political organisations such as Raymond Majongwe’s Progressive Teachers Union (PTUZ), where the founding leaders have remained perched at the top and unchanged.

The point coming out here is that all political parties, including zanu-pf and the opposition, have not experienced any leadership renewal and none of them have announced any clear succession plans.

What this means therefore is that the opposition parties have no moral latitude to prod zanu-pf to unveil a succession plan or effect leadership renewal when they do not have similar plans.

Above all, zanu-pf has its own vibrant constitution that is guiding it in all matters including the succession issue.

The zanu-pf constitution stipulates that leadership issues are deliberated at its Congress.

So if the latest zanu-pf Congress has not raised the issue of succession and proceeded to vote for President Mugabe as its First Secretary and Presidential candidate for future elections, no one else has a right to impose the succession topic on the party, worse still its political nemesis.

The message one gets from the opposition is that they are scared to once again compete with President Mugabe in future elections hence their agenda setting attempts to arm-twist zanu-pf to replace the President.

They want the party to drop its reliable and unbeaten horse for some untested candidate, which in political strategy is rather far-fetched and would definitely not found audience with zanu-pf.

The President has already indicated that he will stand for elections in 2018, a position fully supported by all wings of the party, which means there are no plans to replace him hence the need for a successor falls away.

In addition, it is a blatant lie for the opposition activists to claim that the alleged absence of a succession plan in zanu-pf is scaring away investors, for we have witnessed investors of all nationalities flocking into the country and establishing businesses.

Will I be lying if I say that KFC, a US investor, has established outlets in the country despite all predictions of gloom and doom?

More so, we have US brands such as Pepsi that are already on the ground establishing a bottling company in the country at a time we are told the party has no succession plan.

Reference can also be made to other ongoing investments by Samsung and people such as Aliko Dangote.

All these investments are taking place under the guidance of President Robert Mugabe, without any reference to a succession plan, so why are opposition critics pushing for a succession plan as if it is the panacea to our economic challenges?

Nevertheless, it is clear that all this push for a succession plan in zanu-pf is just a desperate regime change ploy to force change of leadership in zanu-pf after a realisation that President Mugabe cannot be defeated in elections.