Heart of the Matter May 14, 2009

TANONOKA JOSEPH WHANDE

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has spoken out about “residual elements” within ZANU-PF who are resisting and frustrating the advancement of change in Zimbabwe.

Notable among these are Zimbabwe’s service chiefs who now appear to be in a quandary owing to their resistance to the new political dispensation in the country.

However, it is folly for the Prime minister to indirectly protect Mugabe by singling out those horrid service chiefs as the only ones who are trying to frustrate this unity government. Mugabe, too, must be blamed just like his underlings.

Although these are just words for now, Tsvangirai’s statement is commendable as opposed to his practice of ignoring what is happening within his government.

The Prime minister’s remarks are welcome, especially since he and his party must act in step with their optimism that this government of national unity will work.

They must be upbeat about it and stimulate the required hope and acceptance in the people.
However, they must follow up on such demands and statements, not with ultimatums but with punishing action.
Time of appeasement is over.
One thing I fear the most is any disagreement between Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his Finance Minister, Tendai Biti.

And this is likely to bubble to the surface if the MDC continues to give Robert Mugabe space as the MDC has been doing since the formation of this unity government.

I wish there was some sort of unity; unity could have made all the difference.
During those obnoxious South Africa/SADC talks in Tswane (Pretoria) last year and early this year, it was reported that Biti and Tsvangirai were on opposite sides of whether or not to accept the forced agreement to join the government of national unity.

The two made separate contradictory statements about the MDC’s willingness or unwillingness to embrace the ultimatum.
After a bit of “damage control”, all was quiet.

In the past few weeks, pressure has been mounting on Tsvangirai to stand up to Mugabe’s intransigence and to make him conclude the outstanding issues which they had not actively demanded solved.
Early this week, we saw Ibbo Mandaza telling the media about what he saw as disagreements between Tsvangirai and Biti again, and this cannot be good news under any circumstances.

It took a long while but after feeling the heat, it was party Secretary General, Tendai Biti, who gave Mugabe and ZANU-PF an ultimatum to resolve all outstanding issues by last Monday.

The talks, apparently, were deadlocked and we are now told that we will only know the details and the outcome tomorrow, Friday.
The outstanding issues that the MDC has been slow to push for are actually very important issues, at least to what we had come to believe about the MDC.
Without any doubt, the issues should have been made conditions to the joining of the government of national unity.

The equitable allocation of the country’s 10 gubernatorial posts, permanent secretaries and ambassadors caused a lot of acrimony just before these political parties were forced to form a government of national unity by last February.

During those talks, Mugabe thumbed his nose at the MDC by extending Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono’s tenure and appointing Johannes Tomana as Attorney-General, both in violation of the agreement that had been signed.

The MDC would have been justified had they used just the above violations of the agreement as a lever to wring some concessions from SADC, Thabo Mbeki and Mugabe.

But they went ahead and agreed to the situation, hoping, I think, that they would deal with the matters at a later stage.

As they sat in the government, Mugabe’s reluctance to swear in agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett became another foray into stubborn resistance and this clearly caused a lot of anger among the principals in government.

It also showed that Mugabe was not intimidated and would continue treating the MDC as a junior partner.
Further to that, Mugabe confidently stripped key ministerial functions from MDC minister Nelson Chamisa’s Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology. He dissected the ministry and moved the ‘Communications’ part to old-faithful Nicholas Goche, renaming the ministry Transport and Communications.

While all this was going on, the Attorney General, whose own legitimacy is one of the issues the MDC wants resolved, has slated to go ahead with the trial of detainees and MDC sympathizers, among which are Tsvangirai’s former close aides and party officials.
Enough is enough!

One wonders what Mugabe had to do to annoy and spur the MDC into some sort of action.
His delaying tactics have always harassed the MDC and, surprisingly, cowed them into some type of retreat.
But slowly, people started to complain and to voice their reservations about the effectiveness of the MDC vis-à-vis’ Mugabe and ZANU-PF’s continued misbehaviour within the government of national unity.
And now pressure is mounting on the MDC to show some spine; to pay attention to important issues, including the continuing farm invasions with the attendant violence, instead of spending time worrying about minor issues.

The heart of the matter is that the MDC must, of necessity, dig in their heels and refuse to move or budge an inch.

The MDC has always been extending a patient and understanding hand which Mugabe and ZANU-PF continue to spurn.

If the MDC continues to reach out to Mugabe without getting something in return, they will be perceived as weaklings who have now started to sacrifice their principles and people’s expectations at the alter of expediency and individual gain.

The MDC has treated Mugabe and ZANU-PF with a lot of patience but it is now time for the MDC to move on and work for the people’s aspirations instead of continuing to extend a hand of friendship which is being met with non cooperation and humiliation.

The MDC has done enough and the people, including the international community, have realized the insincerity in Mugabe and ZANU-PF.

They should now be careful not to let people misinterpret their exaggerated good faith.
In addition, protecting Mugabe from the blame is not a good strategy for Tsvangirai to adopt.
Their continued effort to appease Mugabe will result in the MDC disagreeing amongst themselves, bringing into the open the disagreements which they had hitherto managed to contain.
But Mugabe is relentless; he uses time and patience to defeat opponents.

This is the time for the MDC to rediscover itself and to start standing up for their beliefs and principles.
They have shown us their patience and willingness to go to great lengths to make sure the unity government succeeds but there is a limit to everything.

Too much patience turns into cowardice and inability to act and the MDC does not want to be labeled as such, do they?

Should the MDC, therefore, continue on this appeasement drive or should they tighten the screws on Mugabe just a little more?

Shouldn’t they start backing up they demands with action to show Mugabe that this is serious business?
The MDC must apply a little more pressure now. They should not miss these opportunities to bring ZANU-PF to order.

Zimbabwe needs brutal implementation of honest government. Three months after the unity government came into being, we still do not have the rule of law, the media is still gagged and Mugabe continues to arrest and incarcerate our innocent citizens. Send me your comment to tano@swradioafrica.com The MDC must show the people and, indeed, the world that there are at least a few things within this government that it can do something about.

I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my fellow Zimbabweans, is the way it is today, Thursday May 14, 2009.