Singai Nyoka
BBC News, Harare
Blessed Geza / Facebook
The blessed “bomb” Geza hid and was expelled from the ruling party for his honest remarks
A long convoy of armored tanks rolling through Harare’s neighbourhood has sparked concerns that a military coup had progressed in Zimbabwe.
“What’s going on in Zimbabwe?” One person posted on social media. Another said: “The last time this happened there was a coup.”
Government spokesman Nick Mangana quickly eased the fears of the people, explaining that the tanks are in the capital on the morning of mid-February as part of a scheduled movement to test equipment “there is nothing to worry about.”
But chatter and speculation continued, revealing much about the state of the country.
Prior to routine military training, President Emerson Mnangagwa has called for him to resign in the face of harsh criticism of his leadership from within his Zanu-PF party for the first time since becoming president in 2017.
The accusations evoked memories of lead-ups to the coup that overcame his predecessor, longtime leader Robert Mugabe.
He was in power in 1980 as a revolutionary hero who ended the decades of White Minority Rules. However, his end was announced when veterans of the Revolutionary War retracted their support for him in the 1970s.
It was a war veteran named Blessed Geza, also known as the “bomb” that launched a verbal attack on Mnangagwa, and a senior member of the Zanu-PF.
He was in anger when some within the party began to change the laws of the country and allow the president to seek a third term.
Grainy voices were voiced, and in a series of often lethal press conferences, he repeatedly called on the 82-year-old president to be removed or faced.
“We have to apologise for helping him take office,” Geza said at one press conference aired on social media about the president who goes by the nickname “The Crocodile.”
“He’s soon [Mnangagwa] There was a taste of power, so he escalated corruption, forgot people, remembered his family,” said an outspoken war veteran who was then a member of Zanu-PF’s powerful central committee.
“Mnangagwa also gave up state power to his wife and children. Sadly, we see history repeating itself. That cannot happen.”
AFP
Journalist Blessed Murangga was arrested for interviewing a bomb last month
Zanu -PF was furious at his “dishonest” remarks – which is later described as “being treason” – the bomb hides from where, through his representative, continues to provoke and imply protest through social media.
He is sought by police on four counts of charges, including theft of a vehicle, undermines the president’s authority and incites public violence.
Blessed Mhlanga, the journalist who first interviewed Bombshell in November, was arrested for sending a message that incited violence.
It began to cultivate Mnangagwa’s ambition to continue serving during last year’s Zanu-PF rally. The president is currently serving his second final term, expires in 2028.
The slogan “2030 He is Still a Leader” began to be spoken by his supporters, despite the Zimbabwean constitution limiting the presidential terms to two five-year terms.
They argued that he needed to take office to complete his “Agenda 2030” development program because he had done such a great job.
The motion was then unanimously adopted at the Zanu-PF meeting in December, which did not expressly speak about the third period, and attempted to extend Mnangagwa’s existing term until 2030.
Despite recent assurances from Mnangagwa that he intends to resign in three years, an influential Roman Catholic bishop was involved.
In an idyllic letter last week, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Zimbabwe warned that the 2030 debate was a distraction from business closures, high unemployment, ramp-stretched corruption and economic policies that support the wealthy at the expense of ordinary Zimbabweans.
President’s spokesman George Charamba expressed his disappointment over the clergy declaration, telling the state-run Herald newspaper that the issue was “dead and buried.”
Nonetheless, it appears that Bombshell’s message has landed. This caused a purging of Zanu-PF, expelling Geza and some of his allies.
However, political analyst Takula Changaza says it is unlikely that Geza’s explosion will galvanize the crowd into his cause.
AFP
The Zimbabweans took Robert Mugabe to the street to thank the army when he was exiled
Recently, people are less interested in such political glasses, he says, unlike at the time of Mugabe’s downfall, it turns out that Zimbabweans, including opposition supporters, came out in large numbers to support the coup – thank the military and war veterans.
“Even Geza’s attempt to talk about corruption and the light-character of workers won’t strike, organize or mobilize people. They have no more abilities or interest.”
“We can promise that there will be no repetition of 2017 before 2028,” he said, adding that Zimbabweans will be used to expel Mugabe and will not be taken out on the streets again due to the internal battles of Zanu-PF.
This is because there is division across the political landscape, including weak opposition.
Even war veterans do not represent the United Front, Zhangazha said.
Geza has previously expressed support in the succession debate for Vice President Constantine Chiwenga, a former Army chieftain, but other war veterans are known to support the 2030 agenda.
Political analyst Alexander Lucero says it is important to understand the influential role of war veterans in both Zimbabwe and ZANU-PF.
“You can’t want their feelings because they see themselves as caretakers,” he tells the BBC.
However, he believes that current complaints, aired by bomb-like things, are encouraged by self-declaration rather than public interest.
“It feels like they’re being left out of the cake they would otherwise have enjoyed,” he tells the BBC.
Zhangazha agrees that those who are loyal within political parties are more likely to benefit from bidding, government contracts, access to housing, and agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and seeds.
For Jameson Timba, the leader of the territorial faction of major opposition parties, for Citizens’ Union Change (CCC), it all summarises Zimbabwe’s political state.
“You have a country where the economy is getting worse. People can hardly afford multiple meals a day,” he told the BBC.
“We have a major supermarket chain that is literally closed,” he said. He references the economic challenges facing Ok Zimbabwe, one of the nation’s largest retailers, forced to close some large branches on empty shelves.
Zhangazha noted that forecasts for a vulnerable economy look even tougher thanks to fallout from the recent outages of USAID.
Getty Images
Emerson Mnangagwa, formerly a representative of Mugabe, took over as Zimbabwean leader after the 2017 coup.
Timba is still recovering from a five-month mission in prison, and spends most of his incarceration on a concrete floor, sharing cell phones and toilets with 80 people.
He was arrested in June along with more than 70 others for holding “illegal meetings” at his private residence when he held a barbecue to mark the international day of African children.
He’s treated – and his treatment of fellow detainees reflects how anti-politics are criminalised, he told the BBC.
“The country is facing challenges. His salt-worthy leader or government will actually seek early elections and decide whether they are still on the task of the people,” he said.
“To be against it is essentially a joke [when] You are talking about extending the office period. ”
However, there is little chance of early voting.
For now, the bombs are hidden and the elections have been away for years, but the discussion of succession continues to cook.
More on Zimbabwe from the BBC:
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