Hobnobs

A Sharp-eyed observer dissecting Zimbabwe's political situation from the background 🔍
🇿🇼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧

[Brighton Mutebuka @BMutebuka]

Supporting Chiwenga to succeed ED means that one does not have a problem with the current system of governance.

They are looking for individual, rather than systemic change. It presents the continuation of Mugabeism.

Quelling Zvigananda is positive & welcome, but if it not accompanied by a change in the system of governance, it still preserves an evil, savage & brutal system, which amounts to a mirage.

I have never heard Chiwenga, Geza, Muchena & others from their camp engaging with democratic discourse and showing an inclination to combine fighting against corruption with instituting fundamental democratic reforms - which amounts to a strategic shortcoming - and is very telling in terms of what their end goals are.

[Open Parly ZW @OpenParlyZw]

Speaking on their call for a National Stayaway on 31 July, Sungano Yavanhu member Munyaradzi Gwisai they are giving the government a yellow card as a warning and if they fail to take heed, they will be shown a red card #CAB3 #Zimbabwe #OpenParly @BitiTendai @edmnangagwa

[Open Parly ZW @OpenParlyZw]

National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader Professor Lovemore Madhuku says their Constitutional Court applications against #CAA3 are not just applications, "they will succeed" @ProfMadhuku @BitiTendai @ZiyambiZ @edmnangagwa

[Open Parly ZW @OpenParlyZw]

Constitution Defenders Forum (CDF) Convenor Tendai Biti says 7 applications have been filed before the courts against #CAB3 with more expected @TendaiChirau @BitiLawChambers @edmnangagwa

[Tendai Ruben Mbofana @Tendai_Mbofana]

Understanding opposition capture in Zimbabwe: not all political bribes happen in public

https://t.co/LVlrSqPLN4

[Hobnobs @ZimPoliticalBOX]

@MacBelts Rotten, disgraceful, incompetence Zanu-pf government 🤢

[Gerrard Anko Ged Belts @MacBelts]

Meanwhile in Uganda of all countries they have added 8 new Boeing planes to their fleet and us we hail a WET LEASE craft we can’t even brand. Well if you accept mediocre quality we will celebrate mediocrity.

[Namatai Kwekweza🇿🇼 @namataik_]

🔴 These people have always been violent toward ordinary citizens. Here is an ad that was televised years ago. They instill fear in the people to maintain control.

[Tendai Ruben Mbofana @Tendai_Mbofana]

If Zimbabweans need to wear a scarf to survive, the country is not developing

https://t.co/PVEHSpcqUm

[Hobnobs @ZimPoliticalBOX]

@tkayzharry @baba_nyenyedzi 100% on point 🎯

[Hobnobs @ZimPoliticalBOX]

@baba_nyenyedzi Mukoma Tinashe, you subscribe to conservative Tory politics do you ?🤔

[Mdara Gee @mudharagee]

Some heads of states leave office without extensions nor mutilating the constitution

[Dr. Tadini Masaya @wenyikaiman]

https://t.co/kybTkU5AB6
When the very voices of resistance enter the regime's patronage loop, the moral boundary between the oppressor and the liberator dissolves. Thomas Mapfumo’s controversial $1M performance offer isn't an isolated event, it's a symptom of a much deeper, systemic ethical crisis within Zimbabwe's opposition and activist spaces. Here is a deep dive into how repeatedly failing the conflict-of-interest test is costing the democratic movement its most valuable currency: public trust.

[Tendai Ruben Mbofana @Tendai_Mbofana]

Zimbabweans must distinguish between a business deal and endorsing corruption

https://t.co/foVDBfFgfL

[Hobnobs @ZimPoliticalBOX]

RT @dandaro_online: Weaknesses and Fault Lines of Dictators and Oppressors

Dictators and oppressive regimes project absolute invincibility…

[Brighton Mutebuka @BMutebuka]

A National Monument Crumbles As Mukanya Accepts Wicknell's "Bribe!"

Zimbabweans have literally & metaphorically descended into morning after news filtered through that much revered Chimurenga music legend Thomas "Mukanya" Mapfumo succumbed to Wicknell's entreaties & accepted an astronomical fee in the sum of US$1,5 million to perform at music events patronised by Wicknell & Jah Prayzha.

For many years, Mukanya has defiantly stood as a figure of resistance & beacon of hope - fiercely speaking truth to power & consistently challenging the regime while turning down brazen offers of trinkets which to many were perceived as a calculated attempt to buy his loyalty & silence him.

Having heroically stood firm for many years, many Zimbabweans have now understandably reacted with dismay, shock & horror to learn that Mukanya's much vaunted resolve has finally wilted or deserted him in his twilight years, presenting Wicknell with probably his biggest societal & institutional coup since he began his corrosive & degrading & eyebrow raising antics.

In an era in which the country's social & moral fabric has been repeatedly, brazenly, and perhaps irrevocably shredded under the current regime, Mukanya is only amongst a handful of rarefied figures & symbols that had appeared to remain tantalisingly beyond the reach of the rot.

I have listened to Mukanya's explanation. I am afraid it does not hack it. I respect Mukanya immensely for what he has stood for, his courageous stand and his sacrifices in pre & post independent Zimbabwe.

He is simply a colossal social and political figure - with his revolutionary music, social and political commentary destined to withstand the test of time.

Years of clear cut evidence of political & social discernment - and that rare gift of reading the pulse of the nation means that his rational for accepting Wicknell's tainted & demeaning offer will rightly be perceived by many of his fans as being neither persuasive nor credible.

It is an unconscionable & unfathomable state of affairs, a gigantic, irreversible, heart breaking & calamitous social tragedy. Not our "Mukanya!"

He is supposed to be incorruptible & priceless to the very end! Mukanya knows Wicknell's antics, he knows the script - all of which captures the zeitgeist of the era of the so-called "chiganandaism" marked by brazen and ostentatious displays / flaunting of wealth of questionable sources & concerted / relentless efforts to capture / co-opt prominent political and social figures to stymie resistance.

Conclusion
Tragically, Mukanya has allowed his iconic brand / reputation, forged under extremely difficult circumstances over many decades, to be smeared and engulfed in controversy, inevitably triggering the "diminution switch!"

The bait was simple. The plot involved fabricating a plausible pretext to make accepting the offer seem like a professional engagement to insulate Mukanya technically from the outrage of betrayal!

This has echoes of clumsiness & contrived disingenuity from one so cherished which is bound to infuriate / offend even more, if this was possible.

Perhaps Mukanya would have been better served by coming out in the open and showing forthrightness to level with his fans.

Perhaps there is less anger and more horror, shock, pain and betrayal. Perhaps many will take his age into account and factor in the potential impact of undeclared financial constraints behind the scenes which have perhaps made the bait more appealing, making pragmatism loom larger than continued fealty to principle & sacrifice!

Zimbabweans will now pose this timeless question, if our hero Mukanya can be wantonly "cheapened" in this fashion, debased & degraded by Wicknell, what will remain untouched / sacred / taboo for our people to cling onto or bind us together?

[Brighton Mutebuka @BMutebuka]

Themes & Undertones In The 'Stripping' Of Thomas Mapfumo's "Purity!"

What doesn't bear contemplation is that Mukanya has thrown his own self-respect down the drain iye atosvika - the "pfuko" idiom in our folklore.

There is a reason why he had rightly earned so many plaudits over the years & inspired many. We all knew that it had never been easy to stand firm for so long & virtually remain the last man standing amongst his peers.

To give Wicknell & the regime that satisfaction of getting him to cave in to their unsavoury shenanigans is the source of the devastation & anguish for many.

Ino dyika sei mari yacho? Mukanya is being hoisted by his own petard. It is him who has consistently condemned Wicknell's & similar antics & set an exemplary record as an incorruptible figure.

Yes, I take into account that there are potentially undisclosed financial considerations that are likely to have played a decisive role in the saga, but there is also the question that Mukanya has got a rich catalogue of iconic bangers belted over many decades which should, on paper, be earning him meaningful royalties via Spotify, Apple Music and other digital platforms.

Despite my misgivings expressed above, I do not consider cancelling him to be a just and proportionate response under the circumstances.

I attach a lot of weight to his earlier immense contribution and principled stand against tyranny and rampant corruption and the sacrifices he had to make over many decades.

I will also always listen to the revolutionary "Tinofara" with a sense of nostalgia, reminiscing the euphoria it brought many UBAs in the UZ's famed October 4 Bar - Mamvemve, Nyoka Musango & many other hits!

The unerring verdict is that the great, iconic figure of Mukanya has stumbled and made a monumental error of judgment, which we all do as mankind.

There is no reason to sugar coat it. Like I said in an earlier instalment, his justification reeks of desperation & disingenuity.

"Mukanya" knows Wicknell's script. He has simply fallen for the social engineering on steroids & become Wicknell's latest victim. He was "ensnared" via an elaborate ruse.

What was valuable / priceless was his clean & untainted reputation. It is that which Wicknell found alluring & irresistible.

He yearned to "deflower," selfishly harvest & launder it for his own ego & gratification - and also as part of a macabre grand scheme of sustained pacification and re-orientation of norms & socio mores.

[Gerrard Anko Ged Belts @MacBelts]

https://t.co/ygLn6XfmMf

[Chirenje Mzukuru WeTongwe @Devro_Amplified]

WHOEVER WINS, WINS : AHWINA AHWINA : WABA WABA : WAFA WAFA : ED MNANGAGWA’S COUNTER - REVOLUTIONARY PROJECT.

"CA3 is nothing but a brutal order that resembles the law of the jungle, devoid of accountability in governance, politics or public finance. It is about a landscape defined by survival of the fittest and where looting goes unpunished."

BY RTD DIO SHEPHERD MPESWE

Constitutional Amendment No. 3 (CA3) was a long calculated dismantling of the democratic gains Zimbabweans fought and sacrificed for. Its rushed passage through Parliament and swift assent into law signal not urgency born of necessity but a determined effort to reconfigure power with minimal scrutiny.

At its core, CA3 strikes at the heart of the liberation struggle’s most sacred principle, one man, one vote. That doctrine was not merely symbolic but it was the moral and political foundation upon which independent Zimbabwe was built. Any attempt to dilute it, whether through procedural manipulation or constitutional engineering, must be confronted for what it is, a betrayal.

When electoral outcomes can be reshaped or neutralised through legal instruments crafted behind closed doors, nation building and democracy is reduced to performance rather than practice. The implications are profound. By concentrating authority within the executive and weakening institutional oversight, CA3 erodes the delicate balance that sustains constitutional governance.

Parliament has become a rubber stamp and the Constitution itself, once a shield for the people, has become a tool for entrenching power. Yet there is an uncomfortable historical echo in all of this. Retired Air Marshal Henry Muchena's comparison to 1965’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence is not provocative at all but it captures the deeper truth. The danger of a ruling elite elevating its own permanence above the will of the majority. The actors may differ but the instinct is familiar, power insulated from accountability and justified through legal formality.

What makes CA3 particularly consequential is not just what it changes but what it represents. It signals a shift from the promise of constitutionalism to the practice of control. It suggests that the liberation legacy, so often invoked in political rhetoric, is now being repurposed to justify its own erosion. That is the essence of a counter-revolution, not an external overthrow but an internal unravelling.

The ethical foundation that once anchored Zimbabwe’s revolution, stretching from early resistance figures like Mbuya Nehanda to the liberation fighters of the 1970s, has now been eroded. In its place now stands a brutal CA3 order that resembles the law of the jungle, devoid of accountability in governance, politics or public finance. It is a landscape defined by survival of the fittest, winners take all and looting goes unpunished. Ahwina ahwina. Wafa, wafa. Waba, waba.

Zimbabweans are therefore confronted with a defining question. Is the Constitution a living contract with the people or a flexible instrument of political convenience ? The answer will not be determined in Parliament alone but in the vigilance and engagement of citizens. Peaceful, lawful resistance, grounded in constitutional rights, remains the most powerful response to any attempt at democratic backsliding.

CA3 should be understood for what it is, not a step forward but a turning point. Its objectives of consolidating unchecked power should be confronted by renewed and unprecedented civic resistance. In unison, Zimbabweans should unapologetically defend the principles that brought the nation into being.

BY RTD DIO SHEPHERD MPESWE

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