OPPOSITION politician Fadzayi Mahere has been consistent in her social media posts that the country needs new leaders to usher in the required change.
She ends every post with the declaration: “We need new leaders”.
She was vindicated over the weekend when Zanu PF Harare province announced plans to amend the Constitution to allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to extend his term beyond the constitutionally-mandated two terms.
Zanu PF’s Harare provincial chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa told journalists on Saturday that the province resolved that the Constitution should be amended to facilitate Mnangagwa's stay.
“The most pressing issue is that the Constitution of Zimbabwe needs to be amended to allow him to remain in power beyond 2028. We are aware of the constitutional restrictions; it currently states that the President can serve a maximum of two terms, each lasting five years,” Masimirembwa said.
“There is a possibility of either extending the duration of each term, increasing the term limit from two terms to three or removing the term limit entirely.”
This is a famous script that will be adopted by all Zanu PF party provinces ahead of the annual people’s conference to be held in Bulawayo in October.
The resolution will sail through at the conference.
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The only caveat is that the candidate Zanu PF wants the tenure extended for has categorically stated, not once, but twice, that he will not extend his tenure when it ends in 2028.
This has not stopped the ED2030 brigade and the crescendo is likely to rise as the October Zanu PF people’s conference approaches.
It will be a night of long knives for party members that believe in constitutionalism.
The purging could be more brutal than that of 2014.
In 2014, then Vice-President Joice Mujuru was accused of allegedly plotting to kill then President, the late Robert Mugabe.
She was “baby dumped” alongside dozens of allies.
The script was repeated three years later with the sacking of Mnangagwa, which would have paved way for the purging of his allies.
The plan was halted after the military stepped in and forced Mugabe to resign.
As the governing Zanu PF party embarks on what appears a suicidal mission to amend the Constitution, the biggest casualty will be the economy which will be neglected as power retention becomes the buzzword.
The small gains attained following the introduction of a structured currency, Zimbabwe Gold, will be obliterated.
Since the turn of the millennium, politics has been the elephant in the room for the economy, according to analysts.
The only time the economy performed well was during the Government of National Unity which saw Zanu PF and two MDC formations cohabiting.
Saturday’s developments showed that politicians don’t care about the men and women on the streets.
It’s all about them.
American theorist Tomas Sowell proferred an accurate depiction of politicians.
“No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems — of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind,” he said.
Florida’s 45th governor Rick Scott said: “If career politicians had the solutions, we wouldn’t be in the mess that we are.”
We agree in toto.
