In whose interest is Lungu panicking over his mentor’s ouster in Zimbabwe?
By Staff Reporter
THE military has finally broken the 93-year-old camel’s back across the Zambezi in Zimbabwe, and on the other side of the mighty river, Edgar Lungu of Zambia’s swift reaction from Cairo, Egypt are a clear indication of how the barb of the Army’s take-over of government in Harare is deeply piercing president Robert Mugabe’s protégé at State House in Lusaka.
Recent political history in both Zambia and Zimbabwe, about 40 minutes flight away from each other’s capital cities, is replete with strong indicators of just how close and affectionate Lungu and Mugabe, with an age difference of about 30 years, were compared to the frosty relationship that existed between Mugabe and late Levy Mwanawasa after the latter in [2007] described Zimbabwe as a sinking Titanic owing to the former’s repressive rule and deteriorating economic situation.
Now that Mugabe and his young flamboyant wife, Amai Grace, who made it very clear that she wanted to succeed her husband, and that anyone standing in the way had to be gotten rid of by all means necessary, have been reined in by the very military they had relied on for protection to perpetuate their hold on power willy-nilly, Mugabe’s leadership mentorship of Lungu has also been eclipsed.
Speaking from Cairo, where he is as per his usual manner on a three-day state visit, Lungu said through his spokesperson, Amos Chanda: “We are carefully monitoring the evolving situation in Zimbabwe. We are maintaining open lines of communication with the administration and exchanging with our other regional neighbours. I have encouraged all parties in Zimbabwe to work towards a quick and peaceful resolution to the impasse and to uphold human rights.”
Further, we understand that Zambia’s foreign affairs minister, Harry Kalaba is already and swiftly so, in Gaborone, Botswana to attend meetings of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Troika on Defence and Security, of which South Africa, Angola and Zambia are current members.
“Zambia will continue to push for measures to safe-guard security within our framework of regional co-operation. SADC and the African Union are both clear and unambiguous when it comes to the sanctity of national constitutions,” says Kalaba.
Well, it was during a SADC summit held in Harare in April 2015 where then freshly-elected Zambian President Lungu brazenly showed his close affinity to Mugabe, whose totem by the way is Gushungo (crocodile) which ironically is also Emmerson Mnagangwa’s totem. After the regional summit deliberations held at Rainbow Towers Conference Centre, an earshot from the ZANU-PF headquarters, Lungu who had been showered with praises by Mugabe, was to grace the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in the southern capital of Bulawayo.
With a few people holding placards of ‘Amai Grace’ in the terraces as the Zimbabwe Republican Police (ZRP) gave a dramatic performance, Lungu was given a chair as a present and after receiving it from the ZITF officials, he excitedly sat on it and started jumping on it to wild exclamations from the watching public.
Later on, Lungu said in a key note speech that Zimbabwe was his second home because even whilst he was campaigning for the January 20, 2015 presidential by-election, he used to undertake nocturnal flights into Harare to get counsel from Mugabe. The listening public laughed the remark off.
Yet, today, it is apparent that that political merry-making and mentorship that Lungu enjoyed with Mugabe on either side of the Zambezi, to a point where there was a necessity to undertake nocturnal activities has been fizzled out by the military power shake-up. At this moment, the ZRP officers who had entertained the duo on that hot day in Bulawayo are now-towing to the general’s dictates. Even if Lungu claims to have maintained open lines of communication with the administration, the question is which part of the Zimbabwean administration is he in touch with, the military or the reined in Mugabe and his cohorts?
Other than running around in a panicky mode superficially talking about issues of constitutionalism in the wake of the Zimbabwean situation, Lungu should just draw a lesson about the type of leadership and mentorship he gets from those who have made it their sole business to lead repressive regimes like Mugabe and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni.
Lungu is today running around trying to close the stables after the horses have bolted in Zimbabwe, but the most prudent thing for him to do is to learn that nothing can stop a people that are resolved to kick out a tin-pot dictator and lessons from his mentor in Harare are still fresh for him to ignore this nagging reality.
