Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa, Blessed Geza and the Succession Drama

A long convoy of armored personnel tanks rolling through a neighborhood in Harare caused concerns, for a brief moment, that a military coup was underway in Zimbabwe.

“What is happening in Zimbabwe?” A person published on social networks. Another said: “The last time this happened there was a coup d’etat.”

Government spokesman Nick Mangwana hastened to relieve the fears of the public, explaining that the tanks were in the capital of the morning of mid -February as part of a scheduled exercise to try equipment and “nothing to worry about.”

However, the talk and speculation continued, revealing a lot about the state of the country.

Before the routine military drill, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, for the first time since he became president in 2017, faced harsh criticism about his leadership within his ZANU-PF party with the calls to resign.

The accusations evoked memories of the period prior to the blow that knocked down his predecessor, the leader of a long time Robert Mugabe.

He had come to power in 1980 as the revolutionary hero that ended decades of white minorities rules. But his death was announced when the veterans of the War of Independence of the 1970s withdrew their support for him.

He was a war veteran and senior member of ZANU-PF called Blessed Geza, also known as “Bombshell”, who launched a verbal offensive against Mnangagwa.

He got angry when some within the party began to press to change the laws of the country to allow the president to seek a third mandate.

In a series of press conferences often imprisoned, with sandy voice and with an frowning front, he repeatedly asked the 82 -year -old president to go or face each other.

“I must apologize for helping him assume the position,” Geza said at a press conference transmitted on social networks about the president, which goes through the nickname of “El Crocodile.”

“As soon as he (Mnangagwa) had the taste of power, intensified corruption, forgot people and only remembered his family,” said open war veteran, who was then a member of the powerful central committee of Zanu-PF.

“Mnangagwa has also given state power to his wife and children. Sadly we see that history is repeated. We cannot allow that to happen.”

Zanu -PF was outraged by his “unfair” comments, later described as “equivalent to betrayal”, forcing Bombshell to hide from where, through his representatives, he continues to make teasing through social networks, hinting at protests.

The police are looking for four positions, including vehicle theft, undermining the president’s authority and inciting public violence.

Blessed Mhlanga, the journalist who first interviewed Bombshell in November, It has also been arrested for charges of transmitting a message that encourages violence.

The problems began to turn about Mnangagwa’s ambitions to remain in office during Zanu-PF demonstrations last year. The president is currently fulfilling his second and final mandate, which expires in 2028.

The slogan “2030 who will continue to be the leader” began to be pronounced by his followers despite the Zimbabwe Constitution that limits the presidential terms to two terms of five years.

They argued that he would have to remain in office to complete his development program “Agenda 2030”, since he was doing a great job.

Then a unanimity motion was adopted at the Zanu-PF conference in December that did not explicitly speak of a third mandate, but tried to extend the existing term of Mnangagwa until 2030.

Despite a recent guarantee of Mnangagwa that he intended to resign in three years, the influential Roman Catholic bishops have been involved.

In a pastoral letter last week, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop Conference warned that the 2030 debate was a distraction of the things that really imported: commercial closures, high unemployment, unbridled corruption and economic policies that favor the rich at the expense of ordinary zimbabweaans.

Presidential spokesman George Charamba expressed his disappointment for the pronouncement of the clergy, telling the state newspaper Herald that the matter was now “dead and buried.”

However, Bombshell’s message seems to have landed. It has resulted in a purge in Zanu-PF, with the expulsion of Geza and some of its allies.

However, the political analyst Takura Zhangazha says that it is unlikely that Geza Galvanice’s outburst to the crowds to his cause.

These days, people are less interested in such political shows, he says, unlike the moment of Mugabe’s fall when Zimbabuenses, including supporters of the opposition party, were mass to support the coup d’etat, thanking the military and war veterans.

“Even Geza’s attempt to talk about corruption and the difficult situation of workers: he will not make people get angry, organize, mobilize. They no longer have that capacity or interest,” he tells the BBC.

“I can promise that there is no repetition of 2017 before 2028,” he said, adding that the Zimbabuenses feel that they were used in the expulsion of Mugabe and that they would not be taken out in the streets again for the internal battles of Zanu-PF.

This is also because there are divisions throughout the political landscape, including a weak opposition.

Even war veterans do not represent a united front, says Zhangazha.

Geza has previously expressed his support in the succession debate for Vice President Constantine Chiwenga, the former 68 -year -old army chief, but it is known that other war veterans support the 2030 Agenda.

The political analyst Alexander Rusero says that it is important to understand the influential role of war veterans in both Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF.

“They see themselves as caregivers, so you cannot desire their feelings,” he tells BBC.

However, he believes that current complaints transmitted by Bombshell’s tastes are caused more by self -esteem than public interest.

“They feel that they are excluded from the cake that they should otherwise be enjoying,” he tells the BBC.

Mr. Zhangazha agrees that those who show loyalty within the ruling party probably benefit from things such as tenders, government contracts, access to housing, land and agricultural contributions such as fertilizers and seeds.

For Jameson Timba, the leader of a faction of the main opposition party, Citizens Coalition For Change (CCC), everything summarizes the state of politics in Zimbabwe.

“It has a country where the economic situation is deteriorating. People can barely allow more than one meal per day,” he told the BBC.

“We have the main supermarket chains that are literally closing,” he said, referring to the economic problems facing Ok Zimbabwe, one of the largest retailers in the country that has been forced to close several large branches with empty shelves in others.

Zhangazha pointed out that the prognosis of the fragile economy seems even more gloomy thanks to the consequences of the recent suspension of USAID.

Timba is still recovering from a period of five months in jail, passing most of his imprisonment sitting on a concrete floor, sharing a cell and a toilet with 80 people.

He was arrested in June, along with more than 70 others, for organizing an “illegal meeting” in his private residence when he held a barbecue to mark the International African Children’s Day.

His treatment, and those of his detained companions, reflected how the opposition policy was being criminalized, he told the BBC.

“The country faces challenges. Any leader or government that is worthwhile would really ask for an early choice, to verify and determine if they still have the mandate of the people,” he said.

“Doing otherwise represents a joke essentially (when) you are talking about extending a term of charge.”

However, there are few possibilities of an early vote.

For now, Bombshell remains hidden and the elections are years away, but the succession debate will continue to cook.