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Fresh elections are the only solution for Zimbabwe
Although I always wonder why he must leave Zimbabwe to make emphatic statements, I was, however, very impressed by what Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said during a media briefing in Pretoria last week.
Maybe I am impressed because I do feel vindicated since most of the admissions Tsvangirai made are the same things I have been shouting myself hoarse for him and his party to hear.
I do not believe that Tsvangirai is so dumb that he only found out last week that “it was now abundantly clear that Mugabe’s ZANU PF never intended to implement much of what it signed up to in the GPA”.
Some of us warned him point blank when he capitulated and entered into this unholy alliance a little more than a year ago.
Last week, Tsvangirai went on to express amazement at Robert Mugabe’s behaviour.
Really?
Said Tsvangirai, “Being in government with a partner who does not respect the very agreement which they signed up to as a basis for that partnership is a challenge, to put it mildly.”
To put it mildly?
When people are dying?
I have always said that Tsvangirai and his MDC have patience to spare, now they want to retain their needless patience to realise an outcome that they, themselves, consider to be “a painful experience but a strategic necessity that will enable us to reach our destination albeit uncomfortably”.
Who does Tsvangirai mean by saying “us”? Is the rank and file as comfortable as he is?
Or, conversely, is he as uncomfortable as the people are, owing to his presence in this government?
What discomforts do Tsvangirai and his top lieutenant suffer?
Why does Mr Tsvangirai only say certain things when he is in South Africa but does not say the same to fellow citizens in Zimbabwe?
Why does he admit frustration only when outside Zimbabwe while, when at home, he makes Zimbabweans think he and his party are on top of the situation?
Why does he tell Americans and Europeans one thing and South African President Jacob Zuma another?
It is very painful for me to hear Tsvangirai telling South Africans that being in government with Mugabe is a challenge, as if he is obligated to be in there. Matter of fact, the people never wanted him to join this government.
Tsvangirai is aware that members of his own party went on a tour to ask Americans and Europeans to lift sanctions against Mugabe and all the people who are assisting Mugabe to oppress not only Tsvangirai but the people of Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai is very aware of all this because he said that “there is a section of the bureaucracy that continues to resist any changes to the status quo”.
Tsvangirai also referred to a “security establishment leadership that no longer feels safe in the unfolding new political dispensation”.
When did he become aware of this since some of us have been heckling him with such information for years, hoping that Harvest House can possibly harvest such information?
So what game is Tsvangirai playing now?
It should not only have been obvious but clear to Mr Tsvangirai that Zimbabwe never needed a unity government.
Tsvangirai knows it and he admitted as much.
Addressing “a packed meeting of regional civic society activists in Pretoria” last week, Tsvangirai said that “being a partner in this marriage of convenience has been a painful experience but a strategic necessity that will enable us to reach our destination albeit uncomfortably”.
Listen to those words again.
“…marriage of convenience…painful experience…a strategic necessity…to reach our destination albeit uncomfortably…”
Sounds like the old ZANU-PF drivel from Radio Zimbabwe in Maputo, doesn’t it?
Oh, Tsvangirai please, give us something new and inspiring, instead of regurgitating this old over-used hogwash.
Surprisingly, Mr Tsvangirai admits that “whether it is resistance to implement agreed democratic reforms, or the looting and misuse of state funds and resources, or the lack of respect for the rule of law and the constitution, or simply the ruthless determination to retain power or usurp power at all costs and by whatever means . . . all of this shows how fragile this marriage is and how fragile the transition process is in Zimbabwe”.
Transition?
What transition?
Tsvangirai and the MDC must, of necessity, remember that they are messengers of the people and that they are where they are on their own will and accord and not by virtue of being messengers of the people.
They are now getting carried away and they are forgetting their roots.
It is called betrayal.
Mr Tsvangirai is very aware why Mugabe is not willing to implement the Global Political Agreement.
In his address to the Pretoria meeting of regional civic society activists last week, Tsvangirai said that there was a section of the bureaucracy that continued to resist any changes to the status quo and referred to a “security establishment leadership” that is resisting change.
Am I to believe that Tsvangirai did not know about this in the few agonising weeks when election results were withheld from him in 2008?
Am I to believe that Tsvangirai is so naïve that it takes him over a year to realise that he is a passenger on a locomotive that is not going to his destination?
Granted, the killing and abuse of people tapered off a little but it never stopped.
As a matter of fact, it is picking up again and all the MDC can do is put their hopes in SADC and Jacob Zuma.
I would very much love to see Tsvangirai saying to Zimbabweans the things he said to South Africans last week. He appears to have caught the bug of telling as little as possible to Zimbabweans.
In other words, Tsvangirai is now busy campaigning for himself not for the people.
Without showing Zimbabweans the political anti venom he has in one hand for his personal use, Tsvangirai is joyfully entertaining Zimbabweans with a snake around his waist. He is now busy trying to justify why he is doing things he should not be doing and explaining why he is not doing things he should be doing.
As we talk now, Mugabe and Tsvangirai have failed to meet over pressing national issues because they are reportedly waiting for Mutambara whose input and relevance are only known to the gods of the underworld. Mutambara enjoys this weight because of the Global Political Agreement yet apart from holding the nation at ransom, he is unnecessarily elevated to a position of importance.
We cannot continue like this.
The heart of the matter is that the problems in Zimbabwe today can only be solved by fresh elections where an undisputed winner is crowned.
Coalition governments or negotiated governments of national unity are not acceptable.
Look at our mess!
We voted Mugabe out and Tsvangirai chose to accept accommodating him. Now Tsvangirai is complaining about Mugabe’s intransigence.
Tough luck, Mr Tsvangirai!
You went into this nonsensical unity government without people’s authority so you can’t complain to the people.
There is no sympathy for you on this unless, maybe, if you get out of this that you erroneously call “a marriage of convenience”.
What marriage of convenience?
It seems to me as if it was a marriage of inconvenience, which has now become an extremely selfish undertaking on the part of senior MDC officials.
Come on Mogiza, stop the nonsense and come back to the people, will you?
The MDC and its leadership are speaking in forked tongues.
In one forum, they denounce the unity government and, in another, they defend the coalition arrangement as “a strategic necessity”.
Fresh elections are the best thing to solve Zimbabwe’s problems.
What do you think?
Send me your comments on tano@swradioafrica.com.
We should be agitating for fresh elections.
We should be pressurising other countries, especially South Africa, the African Union and SADC to assist in the levelling of the political play ground.
Already, our citizens are being subjected to not only intimidation and violence, but to murder and rape, with many being driven away from their homes as the constitutional outreach programme gathers momentum.
This means the people’s input towards a new constitution, which is mandatory before the next elections, is already being compromised.
Is the MDC deliberately looking the other way so as to continue in this destructive and unholy alliance with murderous Robert Mugabe?
After all, there is no guarantee that either Mugabe or Tsvangirai will be returned to the positions that they now hold.
This is a critical time for the MDC and their continued reluctance to take meaningful action as the people’s input towards a new constitution is being violated could be misread by the people who are suffering on behalf of the MDC.
It is a critical time for Tsvangirai and the MDC to act. We want clean results this time around and the MDC will never again be allowed to betray the people the way they did by joining this appalling government of non-unity.
As Tsvangirai himself admitted last week, they spent more time arguing amongst themselves than on running the country.
Both the MDC and ZANU-PF are being warned. The people, regardless of their political affiliation, are tired of this nonsense and it is time for both Mugabe and Tsvangirai to stop taking people for granted.
I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my fellow Zimbabweans, is the way it is today, Thursday, June 3rd, 2010.
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