This is another political blog as we migrate to a new site which will be dedicated specifically to political commentary.

When the baby leopard starts smelling like a goat …

A colleague wrote to me last night and asked what was going on in the country. He is not a man of news. He normally keeps himself to himself. I laughed. I laughed and then said, deriving reference from the scriptures, as those men said to the Son of Man on the road to Emmaus, “Are you the only man in Jerusalem who does not know what has been happening?” I wrote with a tone of incredulity. It is difficult to escape this reality drama unfolding before our eyes. I never thought I would witness the reincarnation of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth in my time. Not in Zimbabwe, anyway. Lady Macbeth but without the sophistication.

No, it is not a secret anymore. Jonathan Moyo does not have to perform spin games anymore. No sooner had he finished uttering his words of denial, did she start twisting the dagger and making a nonsense of his ill-informed spin. It’s like the scientist who creates a virulent bug, which then goes out of control … We all knew she was after Joice Mujuru. The propaganda machine at Zimpapers knew it, too. But they were directed to write a rebuttal, which, of course, was nonsense. And they knew it, too.

So now they wheel out the usual gang of pliable, go-with-wind analysts urging Joice Mujuru to resign – all because a haughty and vindictive woman has made allegations against her at a rally. If that were the case, we would all welcome it, wouldn’t we? Because the entire Zanu PF government would have to step down – from top to bottom, because none of them can escape allegations of corruption. Or is an allegation more important when made by a woman who has to remind us that she is the President’s wife, as if there was ever any doubt?

But the real problem here is with Mugabe, who now resembles a titular President while Grace Mugabe rules. Where is he? Why, if he is not happy with Joice Mujuru, does he not do what chief executives do, which is to fire her? Why does he have to speak through his wife, an unelected and un-appointed individual? Why doesn’t he gather the courage to do what heads of government do?

As for Joice Mujuru, why should she respond to rally gossip uttered by a vindictive person, someone who clearly doesn’t like her? That Grace Mugabe has had to go down to this level of public lynching, communal well behaviour – and she threatens to mobilise a crowd to take to the streets – is itself a sign of frustration that the initial, vaguely veiled goading had failed to produce a desirable result. Joice has been stoic in her response so far, earning some public sympathy in the process, something not often accorded to Zanu PF leaders. Why don’t the real “smelly dogs” that Grace spoke about a few days ago come out first and pronounce themselves? Why doesn’t Mugabe himself speak out or has age robbed him of the ability to do so? Only then would it become necessary to respond.

Some years ago, I characterised Zanu PF as resembling the Mafia. You are all together in a sophisticated criminal enterprise but at some point, fights do occur and when they do they tend to be very dirty and very bloody. There is a sense here that the Godfather, the Capo di tutti Capi – the boss of all bosses, has lost control, that he has delegated powers to the wife. Whichever way, the Zanu PF mafia is unravelling right before our eyes. Struggles after the struggle, as Masipula, the good professor might have said.

But we are not surprised. It is going according to the script. Our elders had a saying for what we are now witnessing – they said when a leopard wants to eat its own children, it first accuses them of smelling like goats.

But apart from the Capo himself, there are two critical constituencies in the Zanu PF power matrix from which we have heard no pronouncement so far. First, where are the Generals? Are they together on what is happening? We saw Defence Forces chief, General Constantine Chiwenga at The wedding of Jonathan Moyo’s daughter. To earn the invitation card and to accept suggests he is probably a mate. Air Force chief Perence Shiri tends to keep himself to himself. As does Valerio Sibanda, the army chief. And its rare, if at all, to hear from Bonyongwe, at the spooks division. The others in the ranks below, who often make pronouncements against the ambitions of persons without war credentials have been unusually silent. Because in Zimbabwe, votes and democracy count for little. Elections are mechanistic exercises that mean nothing in the greater scheme of things, where party and state are two sides of the same coin; where the greatest source of power derives from the security structure. Where they are on this will be a strong determinant going forward. Then there are the veterans of the war – where are they? Jabulani Sibanda, Joseph Chinotimba – normally loud and opinionated, have been eerily quiet on this one.

It’s getting to the deep-end. The next few days and weeks will be very interesting. It is the most gripping drama of our times.