Rejoice not yet, O Zimbabweans

Grace, Robert and Emmerson

With a senile president who often fell asleep at Cabinet meetings when key decisions affecting the lives of millions of citizens and the future of the country were taken, it was no surprise that the battle for succession was hotting up.

There were two camps who were strategically placed to wrest power from the old man.  There was the old camp that consisted mostly of war-hardened nationals and headed by the 'Crocodile.'  Then there was the camp of the younger elements who coalesced around the fiercely ambitious Gucci Grace.

Mrs Grace Mugabe
It had become obvious in recent times that the president had fallen under the spell of his wife, Grace, who was the leader and sponsor of the camp of  the younger elements.  It was hardly surprising that members of the old camp were therefore being subjected to some indignities, so to say.  Their leader had complained openly that some people were trying to eliminate him through poisoning.

Meanwhile the leader of the camp of the younger elements was exultant, describing the leader of the old camp as a snake that must be destroyed.


Mr and Mrs Emmerson Mnangagwa
This power struggle came to a head when the leader of the old camp and the vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was removed and expelled from the ruling party.

The younger camp had failed to reckon with one crucial fact.  This was that the old camp had their comrades as the heads of the country's security and armed services.  These were the people who eventually decided who got the plum job.

Citizens rejoicing at the news of Mugabe's resignation
What we have seen in Zimbabwe in the past one week or so was therefore not as a result of a revolution by the people leading to a much-needed change.  It was merely the result of a power struggle.

The country may actually be swapping one form of tyranny for another.