Zimbabwean Politics In The Age Of "Vene": Analysis By Brighton Mutebuka

UK-based Zimbabwean lawyer Brighton Mutebuka said that Zimbabwe has entered the age of “Vene” whose guiding ideology is transactional politics.

“Vene” is a Karanga (one of the Shona dialects) word literally translated as “the owners”, that is the owners of the country and its wealth, and is used derisively to describe Zimbabwe’s ruling elite. Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Mutebuka wrote:

The Age Of Vene – Zimbabwean Politics Redefined

a. Many Zimbabweans are in denial about the arrival of the age of Vene. This applies to both those in the ruling party & the opposition movement.

b. Vene’s guiding “ideology” is transactional politics. They can work with anyone who submits to their rule.

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c. The Rule of Law, Constitutions & conventions are irrelevant. They apply to their rivals & opponents & not to them.

d. The law is what Vene says. If it’s inconvenient they either ignore or reinterpret it. If all fails they make new ones.

e. The people’s democratic preferences are not important. What is important is to control who counts, formally declares the winner, presides over complaints, arrests those who complain & sends those who complain to jail!

f. Vene are so special that they even get to choose who “competes” against them and who to allocate state resources earmarked for successful contestants, so they can even create competition for their opponents as if it’s not hard enough to compete against them!

g. If Vene don’t like the outcome, they use proxies & their control of levers of state power to change that outcome via recalls & command by-elections until they get the outcome that they want.

h. Vene are not concerned with subtleties & other diplomatic niceties. They like to project their power brazenly as a mark of unrivalled dominance over their subjects. They can mow you down in broad daylight.

i. So dazed and confused are Vene’s opponents by their antics that they subconsciously fall into the same trap over & over again – and are then at the mercy of being repeatedly devoured by Vene, like generations of herds of helpless & flailing Wildebeests attempting to cross the great Masai Mara River at the height of The Migration using the steep ends of the banks, only to end up between the jaws of the lying in wait Crocs!

j. Some critics will say, if you have a Constitution, structures, Voters Roll & V11s & you present these to courts you won’t be devoured. After you are devoured, some will say, only if you had stayed without those, maybe you wouldn’t have been devoured after all!

k. Yet others will say, if we create another united smart creature, we won’t be devoured. Others will also say, going into the River in great numbers to confront Crocs will hack it via the sheer weight of numbers!

l. All are in denial that the age of Vene is unlike any other. When it will finally dawn on them, it will be way too late! You see, Crocs have been perfecting their “art” for millions of years!

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