Sudden Government Respect For Dabengwa Betrays Mugabe Overtures

Harare, Zimbabwe, Sunday 09 August 2009

A reader has just pointed out to me that a full day after I broke the story about Dabengwa being offered the Vice-presidency, NewZimbabwe have stolen the scoop and are trying to mislead readers that it is their story.

Let them have fun, I say.

Anyway.

You have obviously noticed, if you read and listen to Zimbabwean State media, the sudden shift in the way Dumiso Dabengwa (known affectionately by all as DD) is treated by the media.

Only a couple of months ago, the State media was pouring vitriol on the man who dumped ZANU PF and Mugabe's unity with ZAPU to revive the party of Joshua Nkomo.

The State media at the time dismissed him as someone who had been "rejected" by the people of Matabeleland when he was in ZANU PF. They publicly sought to tarnish his Ndebele credentials by saying his surname was, in fact, Tavengwa, not Dabengwa. He changed his name to Dabengwa, the state media said, in order to Ndebelise himself. On the basis of this, they hoped that they would ensure that, in Matabeleland at least, they would ensure that a ZAPU led by Dabengwa would not survive.

It was Mugabe's classic style of using the prejudice of some people to destroy an enemy. With Tsvangirai, the tactic was that he intended to hand he country back to the white man, bring back Rhodesia and Colonialism.

It worked in the rural areas. Countless times, I have personally spoken to old people out in our rural areas who simply repeated the mantra: "Tsvangirai wants to sell the country back to the British. He wants us all to become farm workers again, to be banned from the cities etc etc".

Today and last night, the State media is treating Dabengwa with utmost respect. They even acknowledge the existence of the ZAPU led by the former ZIPRA Commander.

First there was this:

"The ZAPU entourage, led by their Chairman, Cde Dumiso Dabengwa, also attended teh farewell ceremony."

For those who do not know, Cde is the uniquely Zimbabwean abbreviation of the word Comrade and is used exclusively by the state media to refer anyone they consider "one of us".

The state media also even conducted a lengthy interview with Dumiso Dabengwa.

He was even quoted at length on radio, television and in the press.

Contrast this with the treatment given to any other person who has fled the ZANU PF coop. In fact, Mugabe is so vindictive to those who have "deserted" him that he does not forgive even in death.

Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole, who founded the party that Mugabe leads, did not so much as warrant a condolence message from Mugabe, let alone a state funeral or Heroes Acre Burial as a founding member of the Liberation War.

The change of tone in the state media is an obvious give-away that the approach is dead serious.

There is one more scoop coming, which you can expect also to have stolen by the same online publications who, a couple of months back felt so threatened by my blog that they started a vilification campaign against me all over the Internet.

The surprising thing is that this blog has since tripled its readership, with people obviously having made up their minds that this blog is more trustworthy than those seeking to destroy it!!