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Paul Charumbira Correspondent
Nearly 60 days remain between us and July 2018, the big day slated for Zimbabwe’s harmonised elections, but President Mnangagwa, the chess master, is already looking beyond that. Many of us privy to President Mnangagwa’s stratagem can comfortably conclude that he has this thing in the bag, for several reasons.

His main opponent Nelson Chamisa, leader of the MDC Alliance, is a delusional narcissist who has trashed his party’s constitution, declared himself president and brought to the fore two boring friends who were in political wilderness themselves — Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube. Talk of marginally appealing and repulsive politicians to the MDC-T base, there you have it!

ED’s appeal among his base is foolproof.
It is the rural folk who constitute over 60 percent of the national population. And they really vote.
The ZANU-PF system created by his predecessor, Mr Robert Mugabe, is still intact there.

After former president Robert Mugabe resigned under immense pressure as impeachment bells rang louder, ED was endorsed by his entire party as the new leader, and not some pseudo-national council manipulated by its leader as what happened in MDC-T.

The rural folk alone have near enough numbers to keep ED at State House.
To add insult to injury, the 2013 election outcome showed that the once-touted stronghold for the opposition, the urban areas, is now up for grabs.

Unlike previous years especially the year 2000, which witnessed the first shake-up in the electoral field, the goodwill towards opposition was unmatched hence protest votes against the incumbents.
So, let’s forget about the implication of filling halls and stadiums symptomatic of Chamisa’s rallies.

It means nothing apart from the optics.
The real deal is about penetrating the rural areas with solid structures from ward, district to province and ultimately national. It’s also about getting people out there to vote.

Remember the ability of the so-called independent press to really influence voters’ decisions has dissipated.
ED has kept many promises to date, particularly giving people their freedoms back — freedom of expression. The game has changed. According to one journalist from the independent press, “Now you can ‘cuss’ politicians all you want!”
The biggest albatross around his neck has been the economy.

Understandably so, ED had to complete Mugabe’s term with all the problems it had amassed.
Chiefly caused by the sanctions inherited from 2013 elections roundly condemned by the West because they were conducted in the absence of international observers.

Thankfully that has changed, a great achievement.
ED has since done a fantastic job of fumigating and eradicating the pariah stench that Zimbabwe had become well known for.
He opened up the country to the world especially for international business and dialogue. However, he still needs the mandate and legitimacy in the eyes of the world in spite of the fact that Mugabe’s military-assisted ouster was underwritten by nearly every Zimbabwean and applauded by the entire community of nations and most notably the Western bloc.

Not even one country on the planet condemned it!
ED’s biggest weapon is abundant evidence of his deal-making savvy.
Multi-million dollar deals have already been lined up, with other countries immediately snatching opportunities while others are waiting, cautiously optimistic that ED will get his fresh mandate to run the affairs of Zimbabwe.

On corruption, the scorecard has mixed results.
Removing the corrupt, extortionist and obnoxious cops from the country’s roads was a major achievement that should never be forgotten.

Chihuri’s police partook in corruption, aided and abated it.
Talk of return of freedoms, that is one of a kind!
Unlike Chamisa, who is busy vilifying former comrades like Khupe at every given opportunity, ED is smarter. He knows he cannot afford moronic utterances at this stage neither can he arrest, denigrate or badmouth any so-called heavyweight in the party, the consequences can be severe.

ZANU-PF has brilliantly carved out its message; “open for business” which brilliantly captures the citizen’s imagination.
MDC Alliance has failed to articulate what it stands for, not simply what it is against (i.e ED himself, his zanu-pf, legalisation of marijuana farming that is, for good or ill, becoming popular). Medicinal Marijuana has immediate off-takers, jobs will be immediately created, exports generated with corresponding foreign currency.

But for Chamisa to feign moral superiority utterly divorced from economic solutions needed for our time and without specifying a bold economic agenda is worthless.

Chamisa’s crazy promises such as bringing bullet trains to Zimbabwe during his tenure of ten years (if that ever happens) is fake news.

Understanding the sensitivities of a contemporary Zimbabwe is the beginning of wisdom.
Remnants of defeated former president Mugabe in the security sector are increasingly itching for a fight.

While the majority in the service have done a sterling job by positively working towards the reform agenda, complementing wider efforts of rebuilding economic political and social institutions, there’s still a stubborn iota that is not resting. It is sowing seeds of disharmony.

Their loyalty is still entrenched in the past.
Nothing wrong with political contestations which have seen the attempted resurgence of Mugabe under the auspices of a new political outfit called National Patriotic Front.
That’s democracy at work.

But remember the country is coming out of a crisis brought about by Mugabe and his wife, who had promised to rule Zimbabwe from the grave and through eternity.

This begs the question, who can better stabilise the country, ED or Chamisa? ED of course!
In ED I see a hawk of international business, an icon capable of reversing our fortunes, a leader with the stamina to transform Zimbabwe into an economic behemoth that it should be.

Poverty is our number one enemy that has caused acute social breakdown to the extent where even family life is now a privilege for the rich.

If Paul Kagame of Rwanda did it, ED is already doing it.
In less than six months, he has unleashed a multi-strategy to confront isolationism, misgovernance, retrogressive elements of indigenisation and investment laws, freedom of expression and rule of law, corruption in police force, etc.
Fruits of the new dispensation are around the corner because the groundwork has been successfully laid.
For those reasons, ED already has my vote. — Wall Street Journal.

Dr Paul Charumbira is a director at the Centre for the Advancement of Stability and Prosperity (CASP) [email protected]