Zimbabweans must shun Mugabe’s broom-boys

TANONOKA JOSEPH WHANDE
8 October, 2008

Several times, Zimbabweans have made efforts to correct the problems in the country. And several times sell-outs were dispatched on the scene to foil any possible success that farvour the people.

Vultures are frightful birds because they don’t appear to amuse anyone or anything. Their presence is a statement and an indication that something is dying. Vultures don’t just come; vultures only come to dinner.
I am reminded of the vultures after I read a news item that one Simba Makoni is on the verge of forming a political party. I am astounded at such selfish and self defeating maneuvers.

In March this year, Simba Makoni, Arthur Mutambara and Welshman Ncube came to the aid of dictator Robert Mugabe. These men postured miserably but failed to hide what they really were up to.
In the end, however, and if we are to believe ZANU-PF, Simba Makoni managed to symphony off 8 percent of the votes, enough to “deny” Tsvangirai an outright victory and avoid the run-off elections.
Because of that silly move on his part, Zimbabwe witnessed violence on an unimaginable scale and today, because of Simba Makoni, the country remains mired in decay, rot, violence and abuse of citizens.

ZANU-PF went on to cheat the people and to hold meaningless elections with only one contestant. It was surprising that a man proud as Mugabe was, could shamelessly stand in front of people and declare himself a winner. When desperation and rejection come together, schizophrenia takes residence.
And Mugabe’s schizophrenic behavior has been running the country since then.

I applaud Tsvangirai and the MDC for going out of their way to seek a solution to the problem that confronted the nation. In that vein, they pushed and shoved to get Mugabe and his ZANU-PF to the negotiating table. They then went on to make a big mistake and signed an agreement before the negotiations were complete.
And now the nation is once again back to square one after having placed so much hope in those talks although we suspected that nothing would come out of the talks because the people were being left out.
Now the MDC admits they made a mistake and the nation is once again tottering on its weak legs inviting the vultures already circling in the air.

It is clear now that Mugabe never had any intention to honour any agreement. It was all a façade to buy time and hoodwink the international community into believing that an honest effort was being made to resolve the crisis. But Mugabe wanted to use Tsvangirai to have sanctions removed and to have donors coming with money.
Thankfully, it did not work and we, once again, find ourselves staring into the abyss.
We came close to achieving something and I would have hoped that we could just pick up the pieces and try again. But Mugabe was never serious so he brings his broom-boy Makoni back into play.

What, may I ask, does Simba Makoni hope to achieve? Who does he want to replace? Or is he just a power hungry misguided technocrat who is peeved to see the likes of Mutambara enjoying the unholy camaraderie with Robert Mugabe?
Who is funding him and why? What is it that he wants to do or achieve? He must be a big joker for it does take a lot of courage to stand before the people who just rejected you and tell them that you are preparing a new political party for them.
But we know what Makoni is doing. He is trying to move attention from Mugabe’s handling of the agreement. Makoni is shielding Mugabe again. Makoni knows he won’t get any followers because the people made it clear that sell-outs are not welcome.

If he is so keen on serving Zimbabwe, why doesn’t he join efforts being made by one of the existing political parties instead of bothering us with a useless, directionless party that is only there for Mugabe’s convenience?
He even has the audacity to call his grouping “a full-fledged opposition political party”. Who is he opposing, ZANU-PF or the MDC? It can’t be the MDC because the MDC is not in power. It can’t be ZANU-PF because ZANU-PF is an opposition party.
And laughably, his party’s spokesperson said Makoni is owned by the people of Zimbabwe, really?

They come to muddy the political landscape by spouting old manure about nationalism and pan-Africanism. As the MDC eats humble pie and admits that signing the deal was a big mistake, Simba Makoni returns on the scene and welcomed “the all-inclusive government deal signed on September 15 between Mugabe and the leaders of the two formations of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara”. Why can’t some people grow up?
The heart of the matter is that people like Simba Makoni, Welshman Ncube, Arthur Mutambara and others should give Zimbabweans a break. These people have caused so much damage to the nation and it is time they were put in their place. Why anyone would like to form or join a new political party at this critical time remains a mystery to me.

We should, instead, pool our resources and deal with Mugabe and his violent Service Chiefs who have abused the nation and the people for so long.
Makoni and the others we discussed are defeating the effort that Zimbabweans are making just because each one of these little boys fancies himself president of Zimbabwe.

It is time Zimbabweans put these sell-outs in their rightful places and its going to happen sooner than most people think. Zimbabweans are tired of being used by meaningless chancers claiming to be saviours when, in effect, they just want to rape the country like those they are trying to replace. Enough is enough and Zimbabwe should show these charlatans the way out.
I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my fellow Zimbabweans, is the way it is today, October 9, 2008.