Tsvangirai should be home with the people

TANONOKA JOSEPH WHANDE

I received a load of mail from my last week’s commentary in which I argued that Mr Tsvangirai, or MT, should be with the people at home.
Some called me names and even tried to tie me to the Gukurahundi atrocities because, they said, I was a civil servant at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation during part of that time.
Others said since I am in exile myself, I should not be telling MT to go back to Zimbabwe.
However, many people shared my sentiments that Mr Tsvangirai should be home with the people.
I beg that you allow me the chance to address that issue one more time in respect to the mail that I have since received and also because it has generated a lot of debate and there are a few clarifications that need to be made.

First off, I still maintain that Mr. Tsvangirai should be home with the people.

His subordinates are doing the day-to-day running of the party and are identifying themselves with the people and with the serious problems they are undergoing during their time of need.
This leaves the leader on the other side of the anthill where no one sees him.

We should, therefore, not be surprised when, one of these days, party workhorses like Thoko Khupe, Tendai Biti, Lovemore Moyo and others, who are bearing the brunt and pains of the despair and misery of the people first hand, not to mention Mugabe’s warped behavior, will say ‘enough is enough’ and simply sideline Tsvangirai and then we will have another split.
The point is that Tsvangirai chose to be leader on his own accord and volition. And, as in every country on earth, there are certain responsibilities and risks that come with being a leader and those cannot be wished away.

Yes, I am now writing from and living in exile. I do not have a constituency like MT does, so the fact that I am not in Zimbabwe is immaterial.
I am talking about a leader who, people are now saying to me, is absconding from his role.

However, I also did mention that I personally don’t think it wise for MT to go home at this time, considering the vile Mugabe and his desperate band of thieves and murderers.
If that be the case, I said MT should simply say so, so that the people know and understand how the struggle will continue to be fought with him in exile.
Before CDs, DVDs, the Internet and cellphones, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini toppled the Shah of Iran from a nondescript apartment in France.

The issue here is not to take people for granted.
MT and his party have a lot of support and it is very important for them not to take that for granted.
Support, if not well cultivated, can evaporate.
With the security issue being paramount, the time might have come for MT to make a decision whether to fight from within or from elsewhere.
What happens to the contestants in the long run is not my concern; they chose the sport and they chose to compete.
I am only reflecting the kind of thinking that is clogging up my mailbox.

“If you can’t help them yourself,” one letter said to me, “stop playing around with the people’s emotions by saying that someone else (other than you Whande) should be with them.”
I am not playing with anyone’s emotions but expressing mine. I am not anyone’s leader, and never want to be. I don’t have to be with anyone but MT does.
Leaders should not take their followers half way and then leave them to fend for themselves.
Imagine what would have happened between those two walls of water had Moses abandoned those cowardly Israelites midway across the sea!
Zimbabweans have already shown to be braver, haven’t they? They need leadership.
If Moses had no faith in himself and in leading his people, he too would have perished.

The MDC has a lot of support and it cannot be denied that Tsvangirai, as a person, as an individual, created that bond between his party and the electorate.
Mr. Tsvangirai must acknowledge his support base. He is him because of them.
The choice is simple: he should go home or establish himself somewhere and get on with the task at hand.

Someone went to the extent of googling me on ‘Who is Who In Africa’ and quoted parts of my 'profile'. No problem with that except that I do not see the relevance.
I am in exile because my life was in danger and that was not because of my allegiance to any political party but because of my journalistic work, writings and broadcasts which were regarded as subversive by the Mugabe government.
Yes, I did work for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation as a reporter and producer but I did not have “a very influential” position. It was not “a very powerful position” like the writer says.
Even if it were powerful, powerful to do what?
Powerful enough to stop Mugabe from killing our citizens? What job was powerful enough to stop Mugabe from doing what he did?
None, absolutely none, at that time, unless we are talking about the Perence Shiris, Munangagwas, Chiwengas and a host of well-known perpetrators of the genocide. They could have stopped the massacres, not any other civilian.

I hope the writer is not implying that everyone who worked for the government or parastatal at that time is responsible for the government’s behavior.
At the ZBC, those who were trusted by ZANU-PF, especially those who were in Maputo during the war, had their own programmes on both radio and television in the News and Current Affairs Department.
As I said in interviews before, I am not a war veteran. My name, Takanonoka, was given to me at birth in relation to the girls who came before me not because of the struggle.

At the ZBC, I, and other people, was mysteriously moved “on a lateral transfer” from News and Current Affairs to the Production department where I was reduced to producing a music programme.
It was hard for me to believe that my studies in journalism and telecommunications at university would make me the best candidate to make musical videos and to produce and direct Mvengemvenge.
It was very demeaning to me indeed; it culminated in my being fired from the ZBC in 1988.
So, the Gukurahundi issue does not feature in this case.

And while we are on the subject, let us respect the atrocity and not use it for cheap literary triumphs. Let’s not reduce this sad chapter in our history to a level of using it in verbal wars that insult them.
Coming from the Midlands, I was only one of millions touched and directly affected by the Gukurahundi and I believe they will be avenged even if all of us drop dead today. Their time is coming.
But, I beg, let me respectfully leave this subject for now; it is a subject that has to be treated with utter respect.

I am neither a political analyst nor a commentator. I react to things that happen around me. My mailbox is full of comments about many issues that affect us all so I play the devil’s advocate once in a while but I am always very close to my beliefs.
I do not prescribe any political solutions for our country; I am not that clever. I only write to provoke debate.
Remember, when I write, I seek guidance, solutions and advice. And these responses help me a lot.

Finally, someone wrote to me: “Neither Tsvangirai nor yourself are safe in Zimbabwe, and we need both of you to live so you can continue to serve us in the future.”
I thank him very much for that sentiment.
I don’t ever dream or aspire to serve in any manner close to Mr Tsvangirai’s courage but I can assure you that whatever little I can do for our people, I will do. I will not put my pen down until Mugabe and ZANU-PF are down.
That I promise you, my compatriots.

The heart of the matter is that if Mr Tsvangirai can’t be with the people at home, he should establish himself somewhere and try to keep in constant touch with the people and direct his party from wherever he chooses in an effort to meet the challenges the people are facing.
That’s what caring leaders do.
His long absences, justifiable as they may be, are not doing him any good at home.
We can argue until the cows come home (or until they wander into someone else’s field) but a leader belongs with his people.
People without a leader can adapt and that is bad news for Tsvangirai because someone else will emerge without even being prompted.
On the other hand, a leader without people is nothing.
People at home need leadership and leaving subordinates to run the show only sows seeds of discontent among the leadership itself. Zimbabwe cannot afford any more acrimony within the opposition ranks.
I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my compatriots, is the way it is today, Thursday December 18, 2008.