The principal beneficiary of the post-November order seems to be the increasingly influential military complex, led by former Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commander-in-chief, and now powerful vice president and retired general, Constantino Chiwenga. Now, Chiwenga not only controls the Defence Ministry, but his erstwhile subordinates hold influential and strategic positions in the government and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). Also, he can draw political mileage from the electoral architecture that accommodated Mugabe extremely well for 37 years. Should Zanu-PF win the harmonised elections, Chiwenga will be perfectly positioned to succeed Mnangagwa in 2023, and complete a pseudo-democratic power transfer to the benefit of the armed forces. So the self-styled protectors of the "revolution" Chiwenga referred to could always resurface, if a political party like the MDC-T, led by 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, wins the presidential elections later this year.

Source: News 24 May 05, 2018 06:00 UTC