Allowing Grace's entry into mainstream politics was a serious blunder for Zanu-PF. She is obviously a Tsvangirai type of leader - the type that speaks first and still does not think afterwards! If she thought afterwards she would not speak again.
Her virulent and vitriolic charge at the Vice President has definitely thrown some chilli powder into the eyes of the party. Even if her words are washed away, the party will be itching and inflamed for a long time afterwards.
Grace's behaviour in refusing to shake the vice president's hand in public is juvenile beyond belief. The immaturity she displayed makes it clear she is not leadership material.
In the few weeks she has been on the campaign trail, she has done much more damage to Zanu-PF than opposition parties and powerful states have struggled to do in decades.
Questions are starting to be raised about Zanu-PF's future such as in this article. Clearly many international observers have some to the conclusion that Grace has irreparably damaged Zanu-PF.
Grace's onslaught on the vice president has been heavily supported by the state media, particularly the Herald newspaper. Everyone knows that the state media is puppet managed by the minister of information Jonathan Moyo.
It is perhaps educating that he was expelled from Zanu-PF in 2008 for stirring factional politics, in what was dubbed the Tsholotsho debacle. He is a veteran factionalist. No sooner had he been allowed back into cabinet than was he reprimanded for fanning factionalism by the president. That was in February this year. He clearly does not learn very well as he seems deeply entwined in the latest round of factionalism.
It is no secret that Zanu-PF is a party very proud of its liberation war credentials. It is also no secret that the people who fought in the liberation war form the hard core of Zanu-PF's support base. Liberation war veterans are very well respected by Zimbabwean society.
Grace and the person thought to be the mastermind of her tirades, Jonathan Moyo, are not liberation war veterans. On the other hand the object of their attacks, Joice Mujuru, is one of the most famous liberation war fighters. Everyone knows her liberation war name, Teurai Ropa.
Teurai Ropa, along with the names Josiah Tongogara and Rex Nhongo were among the most well known on the ZANLA side, matched by Lookout Masuku and Dumiso Dabengwa on the ZIPRA side.
Joice Mujuru is well respected not just because of who she was married to but in her own right as a liberation war fighter. On the other hand the person leading the attack against her, has little credentials apart from which bedroom she sleeps in.
Even in that marriage, in the minds of many Zimbabweans, she plays distant second fiddle to Robert Mugabe's well respected first wife, Sally. It does not help that she went through several partnerships before settling down with the president, something frowned upon by Zimbabwe's highly conservative society. It is common to hear Zimbabweans making snide remarks about multiple totems when a woman has such a history.
Grace's foray into politics has also revealed an immature and divisive streak. Her rallies have mostly been about scolding and insulting party supporters and officials.
She infamously accused Ndebele men of being good only at making babies. Judging by the reaction on internet fora, this did not go down well with the party's support base, not just in Matebeleland but countrywide.
It is clear that her main concern is herself and not the people. Yet politics is a cooperative venture where the leader should strive to encourage and build teamwork, rather than sow divisions by attacking members of the team.
As we say in Shona, it remains to be seen where the snort-apple and the knob-kerrie will eventually fall. However I am willing to wager the bottom dollar in my pocket that Grace will not have a successful political career purely because of her own short comings. I am also willing to wager a cow's head that Musoro Damba is on his way out of Zanu-PF again.
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