Garikai Fadzi
A little coincidence but with a huge potential happened on Saturday 14 July in Manicaland which could, all things being equal, portend ill for Nelson Chamisa’s presidential campaign. Remarkably most people, including even Chamisa himself, did not notice it but the ill omens were all over the place.
On July 14, 2013, exactly two weeks before the last elections on 30 July 2013, the then President Robert Mugabe addressed thousands of Johanne Marange apostolic sect members at the Mafararikwa Shrine at Marange, approximately 250 km from Mutare in Manicaland. This set is led by Mutumwa Noah Taguta. Mugabe was looking for the apostolic vote, a huge constituency in any election.
“Your plight is within my heart and we will ensure your wishes are fulfilled once Zanu PF is voted into government,” Mugabe told Taguta’s followers.
That very day Sakubva Stadium in Mutare was filled to the brim. Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition presidential candidate, had arrived from Harare to address a bumper crowd.
Both Tsvangirai and Mugabe are now out of the picture, the former succumbing to cancer of the colon in February this year, and the latter after “Operation Restore Legacy” forced him to resign last November.
On July 14, 2018, exactly five years to the day, and exactly two weeks before the July 30, elections, Mugabe’s successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, addressed thousands of Johanne Marange apostolic sect members at the same Mafararikwa Shrine at Marange, while Tsvangirai’s successor, Nelson Chamisa, was at the Sakubva Stadium in Mutare, addressing a large enthusiastic crowd. What omens does this portend?
Richard Mahomva, a political analyst, told Inside Politics that the coincidence shows a culture of tolerance in the country. “First, this indicates the wide plurality of our politics, particularly in the new dispensation. It also indicates that freedom of association remains unlimited; hence a single city can host two political rallies at once,” he said.
However, it is the happenings of the day that speaks to the characters of the leaders in question, either humility or the lack of it. In 2013, Mugabe, clad in a white-and-red striped garment, similar to what Mnangagwa wore in 2018, sat on a wooden chair. His wife, Grace, wore a white apostolic garment but sat on a cushion unlike the thousands of sect members who sat on the ground.
Five years on, President Mnangagwa, like all congregants, sat on the ground, bare-footed like any ordinary sect member. His wife, Auxillia, was in Gokwe, carrying out her philanthropic work under her Angel of Hope foundation.
At Sakubva Stadium, Chamisa continued with his anti-Zimbabwe Electoral Commission crusade. “Our position as the MDC Alliance is that [ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla] Chigumba and her commission should accede to our demands, failure to which we want them to step aside,” Chamisa said emphatically.
Just a week from now, on Monday 30 July, Zimbabwe will again go to the polls to elect a new leader. Will the omens of July 14 repeat themselves?
In 2013, after the July 14 events at the Mafararikwa Shrine and Sakubva Stadium, Mugabe won the 30 July presidential election with a landslide. This year, will the omens of 14 July smooth Mnangagwa and Chamisa’s way to follow in the footsteps of their respective leaders? The answer could well come from anybody with a big crystal ball.
