Zimbabwe, President Mangagawa, Blessed Gaza and the drama of inheritance

The long convoy of armored personal tanks that rolled through the Harare neighborhood caused fears – for a brief moment – that a military coup in Zimbabwe.

“What happens in Zimbabwe?” One person published on social media. Another said, “The last time it happened, there was a coup.”

Government spokesman Nick Mangvan is in a hurry to ease the fears of the public, explaining that the tanks are in the capital, which in mid -February as part of a planned equipment testing and “there is nothing to worry about.”

Still, chatting and speculation continued, revealing a lot about the state of the country.

Prior to the routine military training, President Emerson Emerson Medangwa for the first time since I became president in 2017, he faced strict criticism of his party leadership Zanu-Pf with calls for him to withdraw.

The accusations caused memories of leading the coup that took off his predecessor, longtime leader Robert Mugabe.

He had come to power in 1980 as a revolutionary hero who ended decades of rule of white minority. But his death was declared when the veterans of the War of Independence since the 70s withdrew their support for him.

It was a war veteran and a senior ZANU-PF member named Blessed Gesa, also known as a “bomb”, which launched a verbal offensive against Mnangagwa.

He became angry when some of the party began to insist on changing the country's laws to allow the president to look for a third term.

In a series of frequently loaded press conferences with explicative, granular voice and frowning, he repeatedly calls on the 82-year-old president to go or stand against removal.

“I have to apologize for helping him take office,” Geza said at a press conference broadcast on social media for the president, who goes through the nickname “Crocodile”.

“If he (Mnangagwa) had the taste of power, he escalates corruption, forgot people, and remembered only his family,” said the veteran of the candid war, which was then a member of the powerful Central Committee of ZANU-PF.

“Mnangagwa also betrayed the state power to his wife and children. Unfortunately we see the story repeated. We cannot allow this to happen.”

Zanu -pf was outraged by his “unfair” remarks – later described as “betrayal” – forcing the bomb to hide from the place where, through his representatives, he continues to make fun of social media, suggesting protests.

He was wanted by police on four charges, including theft of vehicles, undermining the authority of the President and inciting public violence.

Blessed Mhlanga, the journalist who first interviewed Bombshell in November, He was also arrested on charges of handing over a message that stimulates violenceS

The problems began to prepare over Mnangagwa's ambitions to remain in office during a Zanu-PF rally last year. Currently, the president is serving his second and last term, which expires in 2028.

The slogan “2030 will still be the leader”, began to be spoken by his supporters, despite the Zimbabwe constitution, limiting presidential conditions to two five -year terms.

They claimed that he would have to stay in service to complete his program for the development of the 2030 program as he did such a great job.

The proposal was then adopted unanimously at the Zanu-PF conference in December, which explicitly did not speak of a third term, but seeks to extend the existing Mnangagwa mandate by 2030.

Despite the recent confidence from Mnangagwa that he intends to withdraw in three years, the influential Roman Catholic bishops have joined.

In a pastoral letter last week, the conference of Catholic bishops of Zimbabve warned that the 2030 debate was a distraction from things that really matter – closing business, high unemployment, growing corruption and economic policies that were promoted by the rich at the expense of ordinary Zimbabvi.

President's spokesman George Charamba expressed his disappointment with priests pronounced, saying to the State Gazette Herald that the question was already “dead and buried”.

Nevertheless, Bombshell's message seems to have landed. This has led to the cleansing of the Zanu-PF, with the expulsion of Geza and some of its allies.

Still, political analyst Takura Jangaja says that Gesa's outbreak is unlikely to galvanize the crowds to his cause.

Nowadays, people are less interested in such political spectacles, he says, unlike the fall of Mugabe, when the Zimbabians, including supporters of the opposition party, proved to support the coup – thank the military and war veterans.

“Even if Gez's attempt to talk about corruption and the difficult situation of workers – they will not make people stand up, organize, mobilize themselves. They no longer have this capacity or interest,” he told the BBC.

“I can promise you that there is no recurrence of 2017 before 2028,” he said, adding that the Zimbabyans believe that they were used in the removal of Mugabe and will not be brought again on the streets for the ZANU-PF internal battles.

This is also because there are splits in the whole political landscape, including weak opposition.

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

Previously, Geza expressed support in the debate on the inheritance of Vice President Konstantin Chivega, the 68-year-old former chief of the army, but other war veterans are known to support the agenda in 2030.

Political analyst Alexander Rusero says it is important to understand the influential role of war veterans in both Zimbabwe and ZANU-PF.

“They see each other as viewers, so you can't wish their feelings,” he told the BBC.

However, he believes that the current complaints emitted by Bombshell's likes are more encouraged by self -confidence than public interest.

“They feel as if they are excluded from the cake they otherwise have to rejoice,” he told the BBC.

G -n Zhangazha agrees that those who show loyalty within the ruling party will probably benefit from things such as offers, state contracts, access to housing, land and agricultural raw materials such as fertilizer and seeds.

For Jameson Timba, the leader of a faction of the main opposition party, the civil coalition for change (CCC), everything summarizes the state of politics in Zimbabwe.

“You have a country where the economic situation is getting worse. People can hardly afford more than one meal a day,” he told the BBC.

“We have large supermarket chains that are literally closing,” he said, citing economic woes facing OK Zimbabwe, one of the largest retailers in the country, forced to close several large branches with blank shelves in others.

Zhangazha noted that the forecast for the fragile economy seems even more dark thanks to the fall from the recent stop of USAID.

Timba is still recovering from a five-month prison stay, spending most of the prison sitting on a concrete floor, sharing a cage and a toilet with 80 people.

He was arrested in June, along with more than 70 others, hosting an “illegal meeting” at his private residence when he was holding a barbecue to celebrate the International African Child Day.

His treatment – and those of his detainees – reflects how the opposition policy is criminalized, he told the BBC.

“The country faces challenges. Any leader or government that is worth the salt would actually call for early elections, check and determine if they still have the mandate of people,” he said.

“To do the opposite is a joke on the merits (when) you are talking about extending a term.”

However, there is little chance for an early vote.

So far, the bombing remains hiding and the elections are at a distance of years – but the inheritance debate will continue to cook.