Thread by @TembaMliswa

1/16 The 2023 elections are an interesting proposition in light of what happened to the two main candidates, @nelsonchamisa and @edmnangagwa during the 2018 elections. In this thread I only focus on the President, and will talk of Chamisa later.

2/16 Whereas @chamisa had more votes than his party, showing the strength of his candidacy, @edmnangagwa had more than 20% less votes than his party @ZANUPF_Official. It was a strange result which calls for scrutiny of every province, district and ward in the party.

3/16 These differences in figures between party and presidential candidate, are striking discrepancies which speak to bigger issues which each of the parties needs to deal with before we begin the 2023 polls.

4/16 For ZANU, from the historical narrative leading to the 2018 elections, it shows the legacy of the Gamatox debacle and G40 factional fights have to be faced and addressed. They remain both a constant hazard& opportunity depending on how they are dealt with.

5/16 Mai Mujuru, the unfortunate face of Gamatox, the entire leadership that was wrongly chased out of the party&G40, showed in 2018 that they have an abiding potency which is capable of derailing the ZANU political train such that ED had to sneak past the finishing line.

6/16 Again, the party’s supporters have matured& now understand politics beyond the rhetorical announcements of its leadership.Thus they have the flexibility& independence to vote contrary to stated positions.
That is both progressive& dangerous. They now can CHOOSE.

7/16 They showed their displeasure at the chasing of their Gamatox and G40 leaders by revolting and thus come 2023, there is need to broker mutual agreement to rally all the splinter parts together for ZANU.

8/16 In its current frame ZANU is a relic that has been disembowelled and only the might of state power and media masks that fact. It's not @ZANUPF_Official as it was or should be. Violence, corruption, ideological indecisiveness etc

9/16The strident propaganda that the economy has rebounded& stands the party in good stead as an electoral choice is a dangerously naive narrative not be swallowed bones& all by the President. Too many things are still not working& the vaunted @MthuliNcube has been anticlimactic

10/16 Again, ED needs to tread carefully because the clique of hangers-on, who jumped onto his victorious camp from the other side post 2004, such as Mudha, July Moyo and their veiled ambitions, will feed him half-baked narratives of rosy pictures about the country.

11/16 As I have said already in Parliament, bread& butter issues have not been dealt with by the new administration& thus the ordinary man, not the fanatical ZANU PF supporter, has nothing much to credit the party. You don't show a hungry man an airport or a tarred road.

12/16 The outbursts from quarters such as War Veterans and teachers are manifestations of these economic challenges. This is simple logic apparent for anyone willing to face the truth and not play politics and preach propaganda. The best propaganda is to deliver.

13/16 The polarised atmosphere of our politics has meant each side has constantly taken position& refused to yield ground even in the face of failure. For the Govt, it is refusing to face the fact that the economy hasn’t exactly rebounded as the 100 Days cycles envisaged.

14/16 Worse-off come 2023 President ED is shorn of the kind of national goodwill he had in 2018. He stands as his own man, backed by his own works and immediate projects. He stands under no halo of sentimental light and give-him-a-chance mantras. He is standing in judgement!!

15/16 Going into the elections, saddled with a poor economy, a jobless youth demography and a disembowelled party, isn’t exactly comforting if the President is to recover the more than 20% votes that shunned only him and not the party the last time.

16/16 Work needs to be done to grow the body of believers and thus more votes. However, one of the first steps for progress, is for increased consciousness about the limitations of the clique of corrupt hawks, gangster Ministers and liers who are flocking around him.