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Are ‘MDC advisors’ deliberately withholding advice from Tsvangirai?
It is no secret that as the Movement for Democratic Change got stronger, more popular and closer to power, many people in that party sprouted ambitions to replace Tsvangirai.
They sensed and noted Tsvangirai’s weaknesses and they knew he is not a brutal man, because they discovered that the man behind all that courage was a compromising man.
There are many factions within the MDC.
There are many factions within ZANU-PF.
There are many factions within many political parties not only in our country but elsewhere.
But factions within a party are usually born when the party is weak or is deteriorating.
In the case of the MDC, even silly little existences, like Ncube’s Welshmen and women, actually harbour ambitions to rule Zimbabwe even without a single vote cast for them.
Such is the tragedy, treacherous intentions and disregard for democracy coming from one who spent years teaching law to our children at the University of Zimbabwe.
The biggest claim to fame from Ncube and his malcontents is that they betrayed Tsvangirai and from that, they are already being saluted at parliament and at government functions, complete with diplomatic passports, which they are using mercilessly at the expense of the nation that emphatically rejected them at the polls.
Such is the contempt by which these deplorable political upstarts hold us. Next time at the polls, the nation has to conclusively thunder its verdict to such political parasites.
And such vermin exists in all political parties.
It just so happens that Ncube and his gang are the latest group that is literally sucking the blood out of Zimbabweans, with not so much as one vote to legitimise their foul behavior.
Honestly, some people just don’t have any shame.
Try as I may, it is very difficult to get away from certain topics, chief among them being the issue of sanctions, Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai, the so-called unity government, the MDC, ZANU-PF, etc.
Some topics hog the limelight, but mostly for the wrong reasons.
Every time I want to move to another important subject, I am rudely yanked back to a topic we had discussed just the last time around because now we are being bombarded with sheer stupidity from our leaders and parties.
Thus, I find myself back again on the issue of the MDC, sanctions, Tsvangirai Mugabe and ZANU-PF.
Believe me, I am getting bored with this topic but I had not counted on the depth of foolishness prevalent among our political leaders.
I am just a lost soul crying for my way home.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai should stop for a moment and think what is happening to him and around him.
Surely, he does not think that things are normal?
During the days when he was a true representative of the people, his word was respected both in and outside Zimbabwe, and this stretches as far back as his days as a struggling Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
Needless to say, it was at that time that Tsvangirai cultivated a name for himself, showing great bravery and courage on behalf of his labour constituency.
The end result was him easily becoming the leader of an opposition party that, even today when they stumble and behave like spoiled but dangerous brats, remains the most viable and most effective opposition to Mugabe and ZANU-PF since independence.
Tsvangirai was a humble servant of the people who believed in the simplest ways of solving problems or confronting detractors. He used one thing, courage, and that earned him a lot of respect even far beyond our Zimbabwean borders.
His cunning simplicity was evident as he rightly never bothered to surround himself with so-called big thinkers or the intellectual trash from universities around the Zimbabwean countryside.
He was doing very well until the so-called intellectuals from the University of Zimbabwe wanted a piece of his goodwill.
These people wanted positions and wanted influence but to this day they are not reciprocating by offering Tsvangirai the kind of advice befitting Tsvangirai’s position.
After Tsvangirai gave them a platform, they are now in cabinet. Because of Tsvangirai, they are now ministers in a government that cries for so much advice from its own sons.
But those intellectuals now appear happy to see Tsvangirai making a fool of himself as they deliberately withhold their advice so that they can, one of these unfortunate days, sit in Tsvangirai’s chair.
Tsvangirai is being sabotaged by the extra baggage that he does not need. Now that they have diplomatic passports as ministers, they don’t give a hoot about Tsvangirai.
They watch as Tsvangirai blunders on issue after issue and there is not even an explanation as to what Tsvangirai (not the party) was trying to achieve.
The Prime Minister does not appear to have a source of information and advice at all.
Welshman Ncube, then a non-descript University of Zimbabwe law lecturer who used to harass us for endless appearances on my ‘Debate’ programme on ZTV, only came to meaningful prominence after he found his way into the MDC hierarchy.
He went on to betray Tsvangirai and challenged for the party leadership, ending up forming a breakaway faction of the MDC.
Cowardly and lacking in self confidence, he had to advertise for a party leader other than himself and, as fate would have it, landed another bad apple from the UZ called Arthur Mutambara.
Academics astound me.
Where is Henry Dzinotyiwei?
Not taking note of the fact that if you are strong in the party, you are strong in government, Elias Mukonoweshuro has all but abdicated his role of advising Tsvangirai.
He is now a Minister of State and no longer has time to advise the party on important issues. Or does he?
Where is Ian Makone, not to mention a hoard of others, who supposedly compose the MDC think tank as deputy ministers and office holders in both the party and MDC government?
Oh, don’t laugh; the MDC does have a think tank. They are just too busy, rather trying to please Mugabe in government than to think and advise Tsvangirai in the MDC.
Tsvangirai has been publicly urging the EU to remove the sanctions. The reason for that, he said, is “to give impetus to the negotiations between the partners in the inclusive government” because ZANU-PF told Tsvangirai that he was responsible for the sanctions.
Tsvangirai foolishly accepted a responsibility that is not his and has been nagging western countries to remove the sanctions.
The European Union has just come out in the open and defied Tsvangirai by extending the sanctions for another year.
Meanwhile, public opinion among Zimbabweans, both at home and abroad, intimates that the sanctions must remain in place.
Slowly, Tsvangirai’s lack of power and influence are slowly being exposed, not tested. His credibility is slowly being eroded.
And, say what you want, it is lonely at the top and Tsvangirai is a lonely man.
It is unfortunate that he is made to find reason to ask those who are trying to help the ordinary Zimbabwean to stop what they are doing just so that he, Tsvangirai, can continue to be fooled, harassed, humiliated and have his supporters jailed, arrested, disappear and killed.
To me, Tsvangirai’s campaign for the lifting of sanctions appears to be emanating from those who benefitted and abused his courage and goodwill. They got part of what they wanted and are now neglecting him in terms of meaningful advice as they scramble to present themselves as better alternatives before the electorate.
The heart of the matter is that Tsvangirai is being used by his own people, let alone Robert Mugabe.
So many people are where they are today because of Tsvangirai. Yet it is these same people who pretend to be doing “unity government work” outside the country when their leader needs advice.
Without doubt, Tsvangirai is to blame.
He just has to wake up.
I feel pained that Tsvangirai’s biggest threat comes from those within his circle and those he considers to be confidants and not from Mugabe, per se.
There is no denying that Mugabe needs Tsvangirai yet few MDC senior party officials need Tsvangirai. They incapacitated Tsvangirai because the message the people gave to Tsvangirai has now been so distorted that it is obviously Tsvangirai to blame.
Do they still care about the people at all?
Or is it simply the fact that when your cheeks are full, talking becomes muffled? Tsvangirai must not get to that point or stage.
What do you think?
Send me your comments to tano@swradioafrica.com
My biggest concern now is why Tsvangirai still refuses to wake up. The man is stubbornly refusing to come out of hibernation. He got to wake up for his own sake and for millions of others’ sake; he got to not only see but understand what is going on around him.
My sympathies are now threadbare because he himself appears to have been totally submerged in the wrong things that are being churned out by this government of national unity.
He works hard to protect and defend Mugabe and ZANU-PF at a time they are abusing the people.
The Prime Minister must wake up a little and see what he is doing not only to the nation but to himself.
Where did we lose the script?
I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that my fellow Zimbabweans is the way it is today, Thursday, February 18, 2010.
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