Politics of vengeance

African politics has always been a big theatre where a recurring spectacle, one that never fails to captivate and intrigue, is the age-old saga of former Presidents clashing with their successors. Mzansi, too, has had its share of this drama, especially since the forced resignation of former President Jacob Zuma in February 2018.

A clearly embittered Zuma has been firing occasional salvos at his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, since that unceremonious departure in the form of sharp rhetoric, pointed accusations and power plays. This is the dynamic that gave rise to the upstart uMkhonto weSizwe Party, believed by many to be the reason why the African National Congress’s electoral support dropped below 50% for the first time since the demise of apartheid 30 years ago, rendering the party unable to govern on its own.

But the Zuma-Ramaphosa feud has been rather civil, compared with what has played out on the rest of the continent. One doesn’t have to look far for examples. In Zambia, which is in our Southern African Development Community neck of the woods, President Hakainde Hichilema and his predecessor, Edgar Lungu, have been on each other’s throats for a while now.

Okay, let me restate this: Zambia’s State institutions have given Lungu and his family a torrid time since the man popularly known as HH secured a surprise victory in elections held in August 2021.

The Hichilema-Lungu skirmishes have included the arrest of one of the former President’s sons and his wife in June last year on charges of money laundering and possession of property believed to be the proceeds of crime worth more than $5-million.

Lungu’s wife has also faced legal troubles in the past few years. She, along with her daughter and a family friend, are currently on trial for failing to account for the acquisition of property worth about $2-million in a district near Lusaka, the capital city.

The arrests and prosecution could be a genuine case of the law taking its course, but HH’s detractors have insisted that there is more to them than meets the eye, especially considering that Lungu really rode roughshod over HH during his time in office.

If the narrative that HH is engaged in a vendetta against Lungu using State institutions is correct, then HH has taken the fight closer to home. In November last year, the authorities withdrew Lungu’s retirement benefits and privileges, claiming he had returned to active politics.

Meanwhile, only last week, a rather captivating drama played out in Nairobi, Kenya. It started with former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s spokesperson telling a media conference that her principal had been denied his retirement perks by the government of President William Ruto, a man who served as his deputy for the entirety of his decade in power. The lady does have the gift of the gab and what she said to illustrate how shoddily Kenyetta was being treated was stunning stuff.

But no sooner had the gathered reporters filed their stories than the Kenyan State House media machinery sprang into action. The gist of what they said was that the former President was lying: he received a yearly budget running into millions of dollars and had a 33-strong staff but was refusing to have the thirty-fourth “processed” by government. The real bone of contention, they added, was that he was refusing to occupy an office once used by Mwai Kibaki, the late former President, preferring to use his private residency, which would make him a landlord and tenant, as government would have to pay for the residency.

While various factors contribute to the discord between former Presidents and incumbents, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to suggest that the grievances of previously abused politicians often manifest in open conflict once they assume the top position. For instance, Ruto was largely sidelined by Kenyatta during his second stint as Vice President, with attempts even made to elbow him out.

Throughout his time as an opposition leader, HH found himself repeatedly detained on seemingly flimsy charges, a tactic Lungu employed to quash any threat to his power, thereby perpetuating a climate of political suppression.