Of weevils and gamatox: titles, names and nicknames in ZANU PF succession politics

Abstract

Since replacing Ndabaningi Sithole as the party leader in 1975, Robert Mugabe has managed to hold on to power in spite of overt and covert internal and external machinations to the contrary. However, as age is apparently beginning to take its toll on his durability, the succession debate is increasing its tempo. Underlying the discourse of events, processes, personalities, accusations and counter-accusations in this debacle is language. Language and its associated cultural dynamics was used by each of the rival factions to, inter alia, claim legitimacy and moral ground to annihilate the other group and to counter verbal and/or non-verbal vilifications by opponents. It is therefore problematic that most critical enquiries into this emerging stage in the history of the ruling party seldom focus on these cultural dynamics. This study uses a functionalist approach of discourse to interrogate the conversation of names, nicknames and titles that emerged along with the factional struggles. It argues that beyond illuminating and archiving some of the major moments in the unfolding succession battle, these names, nicknames and titles reflect the nature of the problem, particularly revealing the attitudes, inter- and intrapersonal relationships, and the psychology of the political players involved.

Keywords:

• Names
• nicknames
• titles
• ZANU PF
• factionalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The ZANU PF politburo is the party’s highest decision-making body outside the congress.

2. In the sense of Murphy’s (2010, p. 32) lexical meaning as ‘meaning that is specific to a word.’

3. Jonathan Moyo was expelled from ZANU PF after defying the party’s order to step down for a female candidate in 2005. The directive was widely viewed as punishment for his leading role in campaigning for Mnangagwa in the run-up to the 2004 congress. He was later re-admitted into ZANU PF in 2011 and subsequently appointed to his previous Information Ministry. The state media’s central role in the demise of Joice Mujuru is widely seen as connected to Moyo’s return to the Information Ministry.

4. While addressing an earlier rally in Mount Darwin in 2003, Mugabe said: ‘[y]ou must debate succession openly. We want to be true and open to each other and discuss as a united people, not cracking each other’s heads’ (‘Mugabe succession issue problematic’ – analysts’, The Independent Online, June 20, 2003).

5. Gamatox is a popular pesticide used to kill weevils and other pests in Zimbabwe.

6. Mutasa was one of the outspoken member of the Mujuru faction. He was fired from ZANU PF alongside other senior members such as Rugare Gumbo, Themba Mliswa and Jabulani Sibanda.

7. Dabengwa went on to resuscitate the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) party. The formation of MKD is also connected to Mujuru’s husband General Solomon Mujuru. The ZANU PF National Disciplinary Committee that recommended Joice Mujuru’s expulsion from ZANU PF cited among other things her alleged colluding with her husband to ‘plot to unconstitutionally remove the President and First Secretary of the party from office, Orchestrate the bhoramusango campaign to the detriment of the party’s interests’ (‘ZANU PF expels Joice Mujuru’, The Herald Online, April 3, 2015).

8. See, for instance, the story ‘Poll analysis: Numbers don’t lie’ (The Herald, July 15, 2015).

9. The underhand strategy to foil Mugabe’s re-election by some ZANU PF members became apparent when harmonised election results showed Mugabe receiving far less votes than those won by parliamentary candidates from his party (see the story ‘President has always been aware of plot’, Sunday News Online, November 23, 2014).

10. In the sense of Grice’s (1961) distinction between semantics and pragmatics, that is, between what is said and what is implicated.

11. See the stories ‘Top detectives probe Mujuru’ (The Herald, December 24, 2014); ‘VP Mujuru on the ropes’ (The Herald, October 21, 2014).

12. This refers to claims in the state media that Mujuru’s alleged backer and then Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Nicholas Goche (who was eventually fired from government) had plans afoot to hire assassins from either South Africa or Israel to kill President Mugabe (see the story ‘President confronts Goche over coup plot’ in the Sunday Mail, November 23, 2014. Mugabe has recently insinuated that Mujuru also hired Nigerian sorcerers to bewitch him so that she could take over the party and presidency (see the stories ‘Mujuru hires Nigerian sangomas’ in the Sunday News, March 1, 2015).

13. Mujuru’s power base could be seen in her control of provincial structures which are crucial in the nomination of the party’s leadership. As a way of curtailing her influence, pro-President Mugabe members of the party led a string of votes of no confidence which ousted nine out of ten ZANU PF provincial chairpersons countrywide for their perceived allegiance to Mujuru (see the story ‘9th provincial chairman booted out’ in The Herald, November 19, 2014.

14. The title Comrade is routinely used in reference ZANU PF members and people aligned to it. Conspicuously, state media stories on the factionalism crisis stopped prefixing the names of Mujuru and her alleged co-conspirators with the title Comrade. See also the story ‘ZBC strips Mujuru, Mutasa of Cde title’ (New Zimbabwe.com, January 24, 2015).

15. The endearing nickname Mazoe Orange Crush given to Grace Mugabe by her supporters is primarily derived from the name of one of the most popular orange juice concentrate which is produced from oranges from Mazoe, a farming district where Grace Mugabe also runs a business empire that includes a dairy project, schools and orphanages. However, in the context of her recent being instrumental in foiling an alleged coup, the ‘crush’ in Mazoe Orange Crush could as well signify a celebration of her role, that is, she literally ‘crushed’ the Mujuru rebellion. Long after the overt factional tensions had subsided following the expulsion of Mujuru from government and the ZANU PF Politburo, President Mugabe recently re-invoked Grace Mugabe’s signature phrase during her anti-Mujuru nationwide rallies (‘Stop it!’) to nickname her ‘Amai stop it’ (‘Mrs stop it’) (see the story ‘First lady undergoes op’ in The Herald, January 23, 2015).

16. It is important to note Grace Mugabe’s well-circulated yet inconvenient (to her political fight with Mujuru) nicknames such as Gucci Grace, DisGrace, The First Shopper et cetera. Most of these nicknames are derived from her perceived love of lavish spending.

17. The secretary of the Women’s League is the leader of the women’s wing of the party. She automatically qualifies to become a member of ZANU PF’s highest decision-making body – the Politburo.

18. My reference here is to opinions expressed by scholars in the media. See, for instance the political scientist Ibbo Mandaza’s argument that Grace Mugabe was ‘[…] brought in [by President Mugabe] as a means to stop Joyce Mujuru by any means’ (‘Birth of a Mugabe Dynasty in Zimbabwe?’, BBC Online, September 29, 2014).

19. Facts about Grace Mugabe’s PhD award remain elusive. Media reports suggest that she graduated hardly two months after registering that her thesis remains unavailable on the University’s repository, and the supervisors of the thesis have not been disclosed despite intense media interest (see the article ‘Grace Mugabe PhD saga deepens’ in the Daily News online edition of 21 September 2014).

20. The Government of National Unity was formed under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community in 2009 following disputed elections in 2008. The GNU was headed by Robert Mugabe as President while the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai came in as Prime Minister. It ended when ZANU PF and Mugabe were declared winners of the 2013 elections.

21. An annual commemorative gala in honour of Nkomo is called the UmdalaWethu Gala. For a detailed study of the politics of these state functions, see Muchemwa’s (2010) article ‘Galas, biras, state funerals and the necropolitan imagination in re‐constructions of the Zimbabwean nation, 1980–2008.’

22. See 1 Corinthians 11:3.

23. ‘Kunenziradzemasoja’ (The way of the soldier) is a liberation struggle song based on Marxist-socialist ideals of social equality and discipline.

24. The catchline was used in Geisha soap advertisements in Zimbabwe in the late 1990s.

25. Known as ‘the kingmaker’ Solomon Mujuru is among the people who helped to install Robert Mugabe to the leadership of ZANU PF (see Chung, 2006).

26. Solomon Mujuru’s brother Joel Mujuru has been quoted in the media insinuating that Joice Mujuru’s troubles were connected to General Mujuru’s death, thus hinting to the possibility of the General’s assassination: ‘The attacks they are making on Teurai [JoiceMujuru] are beginning to tell the story of my brother’s death. I am not saying they killed him, but what is happening today points to that. It shows that everything was planned. Whatever they say about the VP today, why did they not say it when Solomon was still alive?’ (‘Mujurus demand to meet Mugabe’, Southern Eye, November 18, 2014). See also the story ‘Solomon Mujuru scared Mugabe’ (Daily News Online, November 2, 2014).

27. See the story ‘VP Mujuru stole my picture: war veteran’ (The Herald Online, December 2, 2014).

28. See the story ‘Mujuru facilitated the abuse of girls, women’ (Sunday Mail Online, January 25, 2015).

29. See the stories ‘Stalwarts form new ZANU PF’, (Daily News, April 6, 2015).