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Mukachana Hanyani Correspondent
The latest survey by the Afrobarometer indicating that the majority of Zimbabweans are still contented with the leadership of President Mugabe should send shock waves to those who believe that the coming of the 2018 harmonised elections will bring down the leadership of ZANU PF.

The results are confirmation that President Mugabe is an esteemed and astute leader who is there to serve the interests of the masses.

While other people are coming up with theories that suggest the revolutionary party is doomed come 2018 harmonised elections, ordinary people who happen to constitute the electorate, are giving President Mugabe the thumbs up.

Prophets of doom should now revise their thinking about President Mugabe’s reign nearing the end.

People should realise that ZANU-PF, under President Mugabe, is there to stay and the recent survey has confirmed that the electorate throughout the country approves of his leadership.

It is surprising that people who are slow to think and fail to read between the lines like Margret Dongo, the former Harare South Member of Parliament and failed leader of the defunct Zimbabwe Union of Democrats (ZUD), and Jabulani Sibanda, the former chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association, are in denial that President Mugabe is for the people.

The two were quoted in the private media saying that President Mugabe and ZANU-PF would lose the 2018 harmonised elections. In an interview published by the DailyNews on March 15, 2015 Dongo was quoted as saying “Mugabe and ZANU-PF are gone”.

Sibanda, on the other hand, told the NewsDay of March 15, 2016 that he would make sure that President Mugabe loses the 2018 elections.

The former war veterans leader said he no longer took President Mugabe as the patron of the war veterans, this, coming long after he was thrown out of the revolutionary party.

While the two were fashioning statements that showed that they were no longer in support of the leadership of President Mugabe and praying that he loses the 2018 elections, the Afrobarometer survey came up with disturbing results for both and those they represent.

The Afrobarometer survey results pointed out that President Mugabe was the favourite of the electorate. It was clear from the survey results that despite the economic challenges induced by sanctions, Zimbabweans still believe that President Mugabe is the only choice in the country.

The afrobarometer survey results also have a serious bearing on those who think ZANU-PF is under threat from the Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) led by Joice Mujuru, the expelled former Vice President of Zimbabwe.

Those who think that Mujuru, who was President Mugabe’s deputy for a decade and has nothing to show for it can all of sudden become their saviour, are delusional.

The survey clearly showed that the rural folk are still solidly behind the President and revolutionary party.

President Mugabe’s support among the rural folk stems from their knowledge of how Zimbabwe got its independence.

It was the rural people who provided shelter and support for the liberation war fighters in time of need and they cannot be found selling out on the ideals and principles of the armed struggle in support of so-called reformist political parties of today.

People should not be misled by ZPF into believing that this Mujuru-led party has something new for the electorate. We should not forget that most of those in the ZPF leadership are expelled former members of the revolutionary party, who have realised that outside politics, they have nothing to do.

They are now trying to earn a living through the formation of such political parties in the hope of getting back into Government. People should not forget that the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999, came at a time the economic situation of Zimbabwe was deteriorating.

For that reason the MDC managed 57 seats in the 2000 parliamentary elections against ZANU-PF’s 63 thereby dampening the spirits of those who thought ZANU-PF was going to become history.

Since those 2000 elections, the MDC has failed to wrestle power from ZANU-PF and now it is a shadow of itself when it comes to its influence in the politics of the country.

In the same vein, ZPF will suffer the same fate that befell the MDC and other political parties that came before it. Zimbabwean people are mature and are not easily swayed by power hungry individuals like Mujuru and her crew.

Mujuru was in Government for many years and failed to serve the masses well.

What would make her do well now? What has changed from the Mujuru in government and the Mujuru of the ZPF party?

For that reason, people should stick with the ZANU PF government under President Mugabe to cement the results of the afro-barometer.

Those who failed to serve the masses during their time in government should never pretend to be saviours now.