President Robert Mugabe is an angry man these days. He’s angry because things have not gone his way. The other day he was hurling abuse at Zimbabweans who have fled the country because of his economic mismanagement and torture by his security forces. Now he is also angry with his close associates, whom he accuses of sabotage and corruption.

Wilf Mbanga

His latest outburst is against Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, who, at the request of Zanu (PF)’s Soviet-style politburo, presented a frank document recommending fundamental changes to the party’s ideology and leadership system.

Sources revealed that the document was extremely candid, and for the first time acknowledged a number of problems within the ruling party. Of course these are all common knowledge among Zimbabweans – and are the topic of conversation everywhere from the market place to the beer hall.

They include the ascendancy of all those related to the Zezuru clan – to the increasing consternation of other Shona-speakers, the marginalisation of the Ndebeles and the personality cult surrounding certain individuals – notably the president himself and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono.

But obviously nobody had ever had the guts to say these things in Mugabe’s hearing before – let alone write them down in an official party document.

Typically, Mugabe reacted badly to this criticism. In fact, he went ballistic and demanded that all copies of the report be withdrawn from circulation and returned to him. He permitted no debate on the matters raised.

According to insiders, the report also highlights the strategic mistakes make by Zanu (PF) during the 90s, particularly the misreading of the political temperature in the country and the missed opportunity of negotiations with the MDC.

A lot of thought obviously went into the document and it is encouraging that there are still people within the party who are capable of this sort of self-analysis. The fact that Mugabe reacted the way he did must surely send alarm bells ringing.

Of course Zimbabweans living in the real world had long suspected that Mugabe was living in cloud cuckooland – with no idea of what was actually happening in the country. Now we know it is all true. He cannot or will not face facts.

Until now Mugabe, has decreed truth for everyone else. And those around him have gone along with his little charade. It appears this is no longer possible. With the 82-year-old president showing increasing signs of paranoia, megalomania and eccentricity, his senior lieutenants are obviously very worried indeed and looking to a future without him. Hooray!




Subscribe today to The Zimbabwean, Wilf Mbanga's new weekly!!



All columns by Wilf Mbanga on Zimbabwe Watch

Order 'Standplaats Tilburg': columns published in 2004

Wilf Mbanga, one of the founders of the independent Zimbabwean daily newspaper "The Daily News", is currently living in the UK. He writes about the current situation in Zimbabwe.