Temba Mliswa – There was a point when the putschist cabal embedded within Gvt was feverish with excitement that one thought any morning would usher in their wild dreams.

Social Media was awash with conspiracies about how President Mnangagwa was about to be torpedoed from his seat.

Dejected by the increasing impotency of its own manouvres the opposition camp had slowly and surely shifted and taken root within the ZANU PF factional frictions.

They were rooting for a treasonous uprising that, outside elections, should remove a duly elected leader.

It was an unsettling scenario how many who peddled themselves as democrats were actually salesman of an illegal project.

The borderline between criminality and opposition politics had been blurred and to them the end justified the means.

In that mix boiled the infantile rantings of Sekuru Geza, the conspiracy gossip of Lynne and Ali Naka plus a heap of fake analysts who advanced their wet dreams under the guise of intellectual rigour.

Many who had been operating on the fence for long betrayed themselves with unguarded excitement.

However, slowly but surely every other event and day that was projected to usher in the alleged change came and went away with nothing happening.

Sekuru Geza’s demonstrations popped and fizzled out with a tired lethargy.

The social media gossip piled up into a heap of nothing while reality revolted.

The ZANU PF People’s Conference, itself sold as the focal point that would reveal the brazen power of the “macho” pseudo-leader hidden in the system, came and went.

The delegates stamped the resolutions and the party marched on undazzled.

Lately, as a final punch of the coffin nails has been ED’s military appointments.

The retirement of General Valerio Sibanda, elevation of Lt General Emmanuel Matatu and appointment of former CIO DDG Asher Tapfumaneyi to the position of Commander ZNA.
The Crocodile had entered the base where the conspiracy theorists thought their trump card had power.

Thus, after all the frothing and conspiring, nothing happened except the reaffirmation of the power and control that ED has over the party and system.

Very soon it became apparent that nothing was going to happen. It was increasingly evident that the horse bet upon had a fractured leg!

Some retired from the conspiracy newsroom and spouted insults and vile epithets at allies (we see you Ali Naka); others switched off YouTube and pseudo-analsysts scurried around for narratives to massage hurt egos.

Recently a mere delegated trip to the G20 event in South Africa has been mined for political capital, people scurrying around to manufacture statesmanship from glossed over photos.

It’s a sorry expedition to salvage whatever debris of ambition they can from an apparently doomed project.

In the pitiful exercise awkward questions have begun to bob about.

Maybe the expectations were too much for the horse. Did it really have the power as they thought? Maybe it never did. Was it really planning a damning plot that would dazzle the country? Was it ever planning anything?

The most frustrating conspiracy question for them has been whether there was ever a factional split or it was all a ruse by ED.

That new hesitation affirms what should have been a warning from long way back.

ED’s storied history in Government should have been a warning for his detractors and excitable social media activists.

A Long CV Of Staying Power

The President’s history in Government and state power reads like that of very few.

Minister of State for National Security: He was Zimbabwe’s first National Security Minister from 1980 to 1988, overseeing the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs: He served in this role twice, from 1988 to 2000 and again from 2013 to 2014.

Speaker of the House of Assembly: He held the position of Speaker of the Parliament from 2000 to 2005.

Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenities: Mnangagwa was appointed to this ministry from 2005 to 2009.

Minister of Defence: He served as Defence Minister from 2009 to 2013.

First Vice-President: From 2014 until his dismissal in 2017, he was the First Vice-President, serving as Mugabe’s principal deputy.

Even pedestrian public posts on the internet acknowledge how his deep involvement in the ruling ZANU-PF party and the country’s security apparatus from way back, is a sign of immense abilities.

How his rivals, enemies and treasonous elements thought they could manufacture an uprising against him successfully is befuddling.

The lesson was clear from day one but few were ready to accept the reality.

Today many stand naked, vulnerable to whatever will come their way!