By Thabo Moyo in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – Embraced former Zimbabwean vice-president, Dr Joice Mujuru, who now leads an opposition political party – the Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF), is promising to revive the ailing economy, tackle prevalent corruption, give the vote to Diasporans among other issues should she win the impending 2018 elections.
Dubbed by her followers as “Mother Zimbabwe”, Dr Mujuru was always considered a moderate within the Zanu-PF hardliners. She is a known unifier, peace-maker and has of late been strongly advocating for respect of human rights.
Referring to herself as a “national democrats”, Dr.Mujuru was last year accused of plotting to assassinate Mugabe, practicing witchcraft, coercion, extortion and corruption before she was ousted from her position by a coterie of Zanu PF functionaries led by President Mugabe’s wife Grace.
Dr. Mujuru denied the charges and surprisingly, twenty-one months on she has also been not arraigned before the law to answer on those accusations.
The regional research unit NKC African Economics describes her as “perhaps Zimbabwe’s last realistic hope of salvation”, saying she had more political clout than current opposition leaders.
In her maiden address Dr.Mujuru promised to address the contentious issue of atrocities which transpired before and after independence with the mass killing Gukurahundi episode an imperative issue.
Gukurahundi is a Shona word which means ‘the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains’. Sanctioned by the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe the Gukurahundi operation intended to remove opposition in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces which showed massive support for Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu-PF)’s rival party, Zimbabwe African People Union (Zapu) led by former vice president Joshua Nkomo.
The operation was carried out by the national army’s independent unit Fifth Brigade between 1983 and 1987. This targeted suspected anti-government elements that were identified and eliminated under the pretext of flushing out so-called “dissidents” who were said to be operating within the region.
The Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice in Zimbabwe documented at least 3,750 killings and speculated that the actual number could be double that, or higher, since its coverage was limited to the Tsholotsho districts of Matabeleland North and the Matobo districts of Matabeleland South. Local Ndebele people put the figure between 20,000 and 30,000.
However, details of who exactly was behind the mass murder of about 20,000 people have remained sketchy, with President Mugabe referring to the killings as a “moment of madness” in 1999 but never taking full responsibility. His government has done nothing to address the concerns of victims and survivors, with little prospect that alleged perpetrators will be made accountable.
Early life and Zanu-PF
Born Runaida on 15 April 1955, Dr Mujuru was raised in Zimbabwe’s north-eastern district of Mt. Darwin – a Shona from the Korekore ethnic group. She joined the Rhodesian Bush War soon after completing her grade nine while she was 18 years in 1972.
One of her liberation credentials is the downing of a helicopter with a machine gun on 17 February 1974 after refusing to flee an attack by Smith regime soldiers. She took the nom-de-guerre Teurai Ropa (spill blood) and then rose to become one of the first women commanders in Mugabe’s Zanla forces.
In 1977 she married the late Zimbabwe army general Solomon Mujuru, known then as Rex Nhongo, deputy commander-in-chief of Zanla. She also adopted her name Joice during the liberation struggle war dropping Runaida, a name she was given after her late paternal aunt.
Government Career
When the country attained its independence in 1980, Mujuru became the youngest cabinet minister in the cabinet becoming Minister of Community Development and Women’s Affairs ((1980 – 1985) taking the portfolio of sports, youth and recreation at 25 years.
She fitted secondary school in between her busy schedule after she was appointed minister. She went to serve in the various portfolios which included Minister of State by the Prime Minister (1985 – 1988), Minister of Community Development, Cooperatives and Women’ Affairs (1988 – 1992), Resident Minister and Governor – Mashonaland Central (1992 – 1996), Minister of Information, Post and Telecommunication (1996 – 1997), Minister of Rural Resources & Water Development (1997 – 2004) and Vice President (December 2004 – December 2014).
Vice President
Dr Mujuru assumed office as the country’s vice president after Zanu-PF Women’s League resolved at its annual conference held in September 2004 to put forward a female candidate for the party’s vice-presidency, a position left vacant following the death of Simon Muzenda. She was sworn in as Vice-President of Zimbabwe on 6 December 2004 and she was nominated as Zanu-PF’s candidate for the House of Assembly seat for Mt. Darwin West in the March 2008 parliamentary election.
After the election, she was again sworn in as Vice-President by Mugabe on 13 October 2008, together with the late vice president Joseph Msika. Mujuru was considered a potential successor to Mugabe, competing against Emmerson Mnangagwa. She had massive support among the politburo, central committee and the presidium, and the provincial party chairs. Her support was proven when the general Zimbabwean population voted her loyalists to the youth league. However, her succession was expected to be challenged at the December 2014 congress, where the members of all politburo and central committee cadres were expected to seek re-election.
In late 2014, Mugabe forced Mujuru out of Zanu-PF after accusing her plotting against him. She became an outcast within the party leading to her losing her positions in the party leadership at the December 2014 congress, and shortly afterward, on 8 December 2014. She argues that she was expelled saying she had already resigned from the party when Mugabe announced her dismissal.
She maintains that any suggestions that she plotted against Mugabe are “ridiculous”.
Husband’s Assassination
Mujuru’s husband, Army General Solomon Mujuru, whose nom deguerre was Rex Nhongo, was regarded as the power broker in the southern African country. He perished in an unexplained inferno at his Beatrice Farm on August 15, 2011. Dr Mujuru maintains that her late husband, General Solomon Mujuru, was shot dead before he was set alight and that those in position of power know who killed him, but they are not willing to disclose that information to her.
“I reaffirm those comments. You must be aware that those in power have not disputed what I said. The state, and not individuals like me must bring the killers to justice. So far they have failed to do that, either because they are not interested or they fear something. A government that fails to protect its citizens is not worth ruling. The murder of my husband, just like the abduction of journalist-cum-activist Itai Dzamara, is recent and classic examples of that failure,” Mujuru told newsofthesouth.com.
Zimbabwe People First
After her expulsion from Zanu-PF, Dr Mujuru played her cards to her chest about her political career’s future. However recently she came open as a leader of a new opposition party Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF). She pulled an estimated crowd of 5 000 people at her maiden rally as an opposition leader in Bulawayo, proving she is not a fluke. She is promising to translate “our vision for a better Zimbabwe into reality-through the proposed” Blueprint to Unlock Investment and Leverage for Development (BUILD).
Various analysts are hailing Dr Mujuru’s BUILD manifesto as a “pro-poor policy document that may provide answers to the many socio-economic challenges that the country is facing.” Dr Mujuru maintains the need for the opposition parties working together if they are to dislodge Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party from power.
Opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai is willing to work with former vice president Dr Mujuru and her newly established ZimPF party whom he described as “one of us” while on the other end labelling Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party as people’s enemies.
Zanu-PF’s leader Mugabe recently ridiculed his former deputy who set-up a new political party saying “They will live in the wilderness, where little ants and other biting insects are destined to live. Some think we are afraid of them. We are not.”
Reforming Laws
Dr Mujuru mentioned that as a party they want to ensure that “our policies are informed by our sovereign interests viewed in the context of the current modern global geopolitical context.”
“We need to push the promotion of a free press that repeal the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and repeal of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) while reviewing the licensing criteria and methodology under the Broadcasting Services Act and related legislation, realign the Criminal Code Codification and Reform Act and make sure that Electoral Act would comply fully with the Constitution’s provisions and requirements,” she told newsofthesouth.com in an interview.
Controversial remark
In March 2016, Dr Mujuru labelled Mugabe a living spirit. “In my culture, you don’t raise a finger to a man or a woman who is your mother or your grandfather’s age. It is spiritual, he is now a living spirit and we are lucky to have him alive,” said Dr Mujuru, in reference to Mugabe.
“If you want to talk to your departed grandfather, you talk to them through him and you don’t have to wrong him, because at his age, he is just there to sit around and be respected as a living spirit,” Mujuru was quoted in the media.
Criticism of Mugabe
Dr Mujuru maintains that economic empowerment laws of the Zanu-PF party are hostile to investors and should be done away with.
“We need to total uproot the scourge of corruption and hostile policies Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act which are scaring investors,” Mujuru told the newsofthesouth.com.
The southern African nation passed an Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act in 2008, which forces foreign companies, including mines and banks, to transfer at least 51% shares to black Zimbabweans.
Moderate
Within Zanu-PF circles, Dr Mujuru was seen as one of the moderates, especially during the 2009-13 coalition government of Zanu-PF and opposition parties. This was a result of her willingness to listen and work with opposition. She always encouraged dialogue with opposition parties for a better state.
Her unfair expulsion from her former party may as well contribute to a sympathy vote. Despite her public ridicule at the hands of Mugabe’s wife Grace, she still commands respect among some security service bosses and war veterans within Zanu-PF.
She also has an advantage on the fact that she is a woman, in an African continent with a negligible number of female politicians and presidents. She is the second woman to lead an opposition party in Zimbabwe after another former Zanu-PF stalwart, Margaret Dongo who led Zimbabwe Union of Democrats in 1990s.
Analysts believe women voters will flock to the new party as Dr Mujuru seems to be also commanding immense support within opposition parties and civic organisations.
Dr Mujuru’s new party seems to be on the road to enrich Zimbabwe’s political culture and give the voters an alternative political voice. This might in turn lead to further democratisation of politics in what could be a post-Mugabe political era.
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