In the intricate dance of politics where possibility and compromise often lead the way a darker rhythm plays quietly in the background the rhythm of hypocrisy. That rhythm has found a master conductor in Sengezo Tshabangu who has emerged as a new symbol of betrayal and double standards on Zimbabwe’s political stage. His path to power has not been paved by the will of the people but by lies deception and raw political trickery.
Tshabangu did not climb through the ranks of a democratic system. Instead he bulldozed his way into the senate by orchestrating the recall of elected Members of Parliament senators councillors and mayors. These were public officials chosen by the people yet removed through a scheme so calculated it would make Machiavelli proud. Tshabangu used a fraudulent claim of authority within the opposition to clear the field and hand power to a group of rejected candidates – his allies and beneficiaries of this betrayal. It was not just political ambition. It was a coordinated assault on democracy executed with chilling precision.
What makes Tshabangu’s rise even more galling is the loud hypocrisy that underlies it. He positioned himself as a critic of former CCC leader Nelson Chamisa accusing him of imposing candidates on constituencies without consultation. While there may be valid concerns around internal democracy within the CCC Tshabangu’s actions are no improvement. He has done the very thing he accused others of and worse. His political ascent was not just an internal matter. It was supported by a coalition of state actors – from parliament and the judiciary to the executive and state security. It was a deal designed not to serve citizens but to serve Tshabangu his cronies and most of all the ruling ZANU PF party.
This kind of hypocrisy is not a side effect of politics in Zimbabwe. It is the main strategy. Tshabangu and his group claim to be cleaning up the opposition yet they are puppets of the very regime that has wrecked the nation’s democratic institutions for decades. Their presence in parliament is not a win for reform. It is a win for ZANU PF dressed up as opposition politics. They are saboteurs posing as saviors and many ordinary people can see through the lie.
The consequences of these political maneuvers are severe. Voters are now watching the erosion of their choices. They went to the polls and elected leaders only for those choices to be reversed through backroom deals and legal loopholes. That is not just a betrayal. It is a dangerous precedent. It tells the people of Zimbabwe that their votes do not matter that power can be stolen not by tanks or soldiers but by signatures and seals in dark corridors of power.
For now Tshabangu and his handlers can celebrate. They have the seats the titles and the influence. But what they have stolen is not just power. They have stolen trust. They have damaged the already fragile hope that Zimbabwe’s democracy can be salvaged. In their hunger for control they have fed the beast of authoritarianism with new tools of manipulation dressed up in legal robes.
This is not just about one man. Tshabangu represents a system that rewards betrayal and punishes integrity. He reminds us that the fight for democracy is not just against those in power but also against those who pretend to oppose it while secretly working to sustain it. As long as hypocrisy is tolerated as a strategy democracy in Zimbabwe will remain under siege. And those who love this country must call it out for what it is. A betrayal too dangerous to ignore.
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