TSANGA Tutankhamen Shanga, a fervent supporter of Morgan Tsvangirai criticised a recent contribution I made variously entitled, “Defenestration of the MDC” on The Zimbabwe Guardian website and “Time to put Tsvangirai to political sword” on New Zimbabwe. He accused me of not having a “grasp the dynamics of Zimbabwean politics,” being a “laptop journalist” and of “intellectual laziness.”
He defended Morgan Tsvangirai’s refusal to answer serious allegations of dictatorship levelled by (ousted) MDC women’s assembly chair Lucia Matibenga. Shanga dismissed the allegations as merely “Matibenga’s whining”.
Without falling into Shanga’s trap of attacking people’s intellect, as he did with me, I will consider Tsvangirai’s weaknesses as a leader, to support my earlier ideas.
I also believe that criticising Tsvangirai is not an endorsement of President Mugabe. The MDC has made people believe that this is so. Tsvangirai's weaknesses should be scrutinised by the media regardless, without fear of editors being labelled Zanu PF apologists or members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). This is a man who is fighting to be our president. He has to be scrutinised. Remember, he claims that he stands for democratic principles and freedom of the press. One of the reasons why the electorate often gets caught off-guard by dictators is because there is not enough scrutiny on them before they assume power, or major personality flaws are often ignored.
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TRAWL back through the years and study the Tsvangirai MDC. Compare the misleading and confusing statements they have made in the last few years and you will come up with one of the most confused pieces in the history of opposition politics; or rather, one of the best political screenplays. Not to criticise such a pliable opposition is tantamount to sidelining our right to choose who leads us.
A large number of Zimbabweans have now discovered Tsvangirai’s technique of escape and evasion through a political minefield stretching all the way from Harare to Washington (due for extension to Australia, New Zealand and maybe China in a future episode). We have seen the MDC covertly deploy their latest weapons of mass deception in a desperate attempt to avoid their grisly fate.
Let’s consider the evidence.
In 2001 the BBC introduced the world to the weird and wonderful world of 49-year old Morgan Tsvangirai. He was described as ‘Zimbabwe's newest political phenomenon’ and that his party possessed an ‘aura of credibility’. The New York Times said, “Change is in the air.”
Looking to raise US$2.7 million for his party, Tsvangirai set a bad precedent that would spell disaster for the MDC party. He asked the country’s 4 000 commercial farmers (whom he called ‘his cousins’ in a speech in June 2000 at Rufaro Stadium) to contribute $1 400 each (NY Times April 3, 2000) through his finance coordinator – a white businessman, Marco Garizio. The NY Times called this period, a period of “real reconciliation between Blacks and Whites in 20 years.”
Garizio even carried a gun to protect himself and Tsvangirai. Of course, he was protecting ‘his cousin’ and reciprocating the warmth extended and the ‘promised good life’ after Mugabe.
Quite a precedent Morgan set, and one that would always cast a shadow over his party. “Change! Change! Change!” was the MDC war-cry.
Tsvangirai could have been the most successful opposition leader; had he not made two fundamental mistakes: [1] to ask for money from erstwhile land-grabbers – the white farmers, [2] to receive foreign funding from the British to fund the MDC, through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
The logic was almost mind-boggling. I remember working in Geneva (Switzerland) then and a Swiss friend of mine saying: “How could you ask for money from someone who grabbed land from you to help unseat your own government?”
Simplistic dichotomies on a complex reality
The main problem with the MDC is that it has continued to impose simplistic dichotomies on a complex reality, and lacks a solid strategy to unseat President Mugabe. Hence, many of their strategies are suspect. For instance, the MDC has barely started campaigning for the 2008 elections – deciding to concentrate on globe-trotting and urging the West to deport children connected to Mugabe and his leadership – as if that would bring the much-needed votes.
Rather than go to constituencies where the MDC is weak, Tsvangirai decides to garner the Tswanas to help in the political transformation of Zimbabwe; or unsuccessfully lobby SADC to support his party. This is a man who would rather be at the SADC meeting than campaign in his own Buhera constituency. Yet when the MDC finally comes to a realisation that they have procrastinated, they bring many excuses to the table and threaten to boycott the elections!
I am rather surprised that a person from opposition would even consider boycotting elections; and thereby disenfranchise those who would vote them to power. Where will MDC supporters’ struggle stand if they don’t go to the polls? They say Mugabe is a dictator. Well if he is, then he would welcome an election boycott. Boycotting or contesting elections …. what do you think a dictator would prefer from the opposition? Instead of going for rigging, any dictator anywhere in the world will always like opposition to choose an option of boycott instead.
On the other hand, in situations like this, election is the best and easiest way to mobilize people as no matter how strict a government is, in order to save its own face, it has to give at least some freedom to opposition.
Besides other concerns, one thing which would scare any ruling party most is presence of even a small opposition in parliament.
And if Tsvangirai is so emotional about boycott then he could have announced it on the eve of elections and used the campaign to mobilize people against Mugabe. Let’s imagine that Tsvangirai had announced to boycott the elections today and had started a revolution. If there was ever a slightest chance of success, then he would have been put in jail along with all other MDC members and that would have been the end of the story.
Tsvangirai betrayed the MDC
The MDC was formed out of a resolution of the ZCTU Special Congress held at the Zesa National Training Centre on August 7, 1999. The congress, after going through the Working National Peoples’ Convention Report, resolved to form the party, which was supposed to be a popular movement of workers, peasants and farmers. It changed its form a long time ago.
Tsvangirai is the stumbling block; hence the constant clashes between the general membership and the leadership. He has become a liability for the party, which he sees as his own!
The ‘cool breeze’ he brought in 2000 lasted only a whiff. After that it has been one steady decline.
The squabble with Welshman Ncube split the party. His weak leadership, which spelled disaster for possible unity with Mutambara’s MDC, caused problems just when the MDC was about to consolidate. From the moment Tsvangirai refused to share the stage with Mutambara in the U.K. and elsewhere earlier this year, preferring to do so with the weaker Madhuku; it was clear to even the most thick-headed Zimbabwean that the MDC was writing off all its chances of uniting.
Turning and turning in the widening political gyre, Tsvangirai has become consumed and confused by the way events unfold. The Million Man and Woman March came as a total shock to him. His tendency to vacillate has made him a poor and reactive leader; who waits at the other end of the rope to receive another blow from Mugabe, rather than become offensive in tactic.
The alliance with Western powers was a sure kiss of death while the campaign for further sanctions further alienated the MDC from its support base - the urban electorate.
The sanctions issue
Tsvangirai’s denial that sanctions were not hurting Zimbabwe rang a death knell in the urban constituencies. Every journalist wrote about sanctions and how they were hurting Zimbabwe; and some activists even advocated more sanctions as a strategy to paralyse Zanu PF. Trevor Ncube spoke against the sanctions at the Institute of Strategic Studies in London a few months ago. Every research agency showed that Zimbabwe was going to its knees because of the sanctions (declared / undeclared). Yet Tsvangirai kept at it, relentlessly. Refusing to read the writing on the wall. Making a faux pas a day.
New leadership for the MDC
If it were not for the MDC's own foibles and follies, particularly in relation to the land policy and the sanctions issue, they would have probably won the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans (rural and urban) even more handsomely.
But the MDC did not learn. Instead of changing their leader or finding him some sensible aides brave enough to speak the truth in his presence, they kept the status quo and ignored the simmering discontent. They ignored the MDC debacle and kept trying to prove that their votes had actually increased in the last election because of Tsvangirai’s worldstorming campaign, despite the 57, 41, … countdown in parliamentary seats..
Chamisa, Tsvangirai's mouthpiece, has kept proffering absurd excuses and sweeping statements to prove that the MDC will win an election ‘if it was free and fair’. Who told him that? Now he’s an elections expert! Who made him a soothsayer? Now he can read the stars! Were it not for the generosity of the Zimbabwean people, who crave change, any change, the MDC would have done infinitely worse.
Deluded by their political creativity and failing to see that Zimbabweans now openly heap scorn at the very idea of a Tsvangirai ruling the country, they spur on mindlessly. Tsvangirai himself, of course knows that he has no hope in hell to lead the MDC party to victory in a general election anymore, and that is why, to ensure that he is not crushed himself, he sneaks away in the midst of his campaign to dine with America, Britain and Australia; looking for political breadcrumbs.
Graceless in defeat
No one votes for a party whose ‘supreme’ leader and president is not even able to win his own seat in parliament, even with Western funding and backing.
Morgan Tsvangirai was graceless in defeat, or if you want, in rigging. Real leaders acknowledge defeat (through rigging or otherwise) and take the responsibility on their own shoulders. Remember Al Gore in the USA? If Tsvangirai's excuse is that elections have been consistently rigged, then he should accept that he has no solution to Mugabe’s rigging. Maybe Biti or someone else in the MDC has a solution! So he should resign. It is the decent thing to do for the survival of the party.
But Tsvangirai chooses to appoint a ‘top-level committee’ to assess the reasons for the party's debacle as if the reasons were not apparent to even his blindest acolytes. The committee spent months to find out (surprise, surprise) that Zanu PF 'rigging' was responsible for the defeat of the MDC.
Tsvangirai has failed to adequately address allegations of violence in his own party, instead asking the inexperienced Chamisa to spin for him and urge the media to concentrate on Zanu PF; something we have been doing since 1980. Chamisa threw whitewash on the Matibenga case, but it's still not going away. We saw Matibenga with our own eyes on Al Jazeera saying she was a victim of bullying and dictatorship. Chamisa lied to us that everything had been resolved and told us to wait for Moyo’s report in two weeks. Remember him also saying, "However, there is consensus on the way forward and the party will soon make its position known to the public." Turned out to be a lie! This was on November 9. Now we are approaching Christmas. Our ‘fanciful delusions’ have turned out to be the truth.
Consider these two statements by Chamisa. Mind you they were three weeks apart: Week 1 (to the BBC) – “We are making progress in South Africa and have reached agreements on crucial issues. We urge the media to exercise restraint and let the democratic process take its course.” Week 2 (to the BBC) - "There is no agreement. What has been there, are paper discussions around issues of elections, around issues of security laws, vis a vis the election environment.” I wonder if he also meant the BBC when he said the media had 'fanciful delusions'.
Forward-thinking people stand for change, replenishment and progress. Ironically the MDC stands for ‘change’, (mucharangarira slogan yavo: Chinga Maitiro, Guqula Izenzo), yet is fails to do just that. Many people view Tsvangirai as merely a knuckle-scraping, reactionary neanderthal, who like a little baby is quick to run to the West when push comes to shove. He is the hindrance to change within the MDC.
The political boxing ring
The boxing ring he has entered will spell disaster for him at the 2008 elections. Tsvangirai is now spread-eagled across the ring - and there's no referee to stop Zanu PF from punching him to a pulp. With his every move Tsvangirai seems to sock himself in the jaw.
It's not just that he's had a dire few months, with the Matibenga/Makone saga, and allegations of dictatorship. At the last MDC national council meeting Tsvangirai and Biti, clearly over-rode popular sentiment and refused to explain the Makone case. We know this. Aaron Chinhara said it. He is a council member. He told Voice of America’s Carole Gombakomba.
As one of Africa’s finest countries, resource- and infrastructure-wise, Zimbabwe does not only deserve a strong, stable government. It also deserves a strong, stable opposition led by strong, stable people. Tsvangirai, unfortunately, is not one of those people and yet he has managed, by the inherent strength of the MDC party, to foist himself on the country as leader of the opposition. Given his breathtaking record of follies, this can only further consolidate the Zanu PF government and drive the opposition into the ground.
This is sad. We are, for the second time, moving towards a one-party system, where Zanu PF is the only party in Zimbabwe. Even the other factions within the Zanu PF party have given up. Regional governments have also taken their positions unequivocally. Zuma, only a few days ago, made a U-turn and pledged his support for ‘quiet diplomacy’ on Zimbabwe. Mbeki openly backs Mugabe and Senegal endorses him. The perception, from Cape to Cairo, is that Zanu PF is still as a pan-African organisation, rather than merely a political party. Mugabe is seen as the champion of Africa’s economic independence. Political independence was won a long time ago.
Cold feet
Tsvangirai’s nauseating campaigns in the West will not augur well with pan-African elements; especially at this crucial time when African states are more determined to work together and counter other economic blocs. His campaigns only serve to reduce his party to a nervous twittering wreck. At home this nervous wreck is manifested in many ways. MDC MPs have developed cold feet over contesting in rural constituencies. If they can win, let them go in.
MDC national executive member Solomon Madzore who stood in Buhera South in 2005 against Kumbirai Kangai is now eyeing the Dzivarasekwa constituency. Theresa Makone is swapping Wedza for Harare North. Evelyn Msaiti is developing cold-feet over contesting Oppah Muchinguri in Mutare North. Chickening out of the Mhondoro constituency to St Mary’s is Hilda Mafudze to avoid Sylvester Nguni.
Zanu PF argues that in Mugabe, against all popular belief, at least they have found a charismatic, reliable, visionary leader. Can the MDC say the same thing?
If Zimbabwean democracy is to be achieved, grow and flourish, the opposition also needs a leader of similar stature, to counter Zanu PF. Tsvangirai cannot, will not, do. He will only make Zanu PF stronger and the opposition weaker and weaker. His own uncompromising attitude has already weakened the MDC party. The longer he stays as leader of the opposition, the more he will weaken it and the more difficult it will be for the MDC to be taken seriously as an alternative to the Zanu PF government.
Wheels off the bus
The wheels came off the MDC bus a long time ago. It was because MDC members saw, to their dismay, that after years of MDC campaigning, Tsvangirai had failed, yet was clinging onto power and talking tough – something he blames Mugabe for. Through his control freakery he has run the MDC into the ground and the party is more divided now than ever.
Tsvangirai has failed to connect with the aspirations of the public. He has practised some crude form of “triangulation”. In layman's terms, he has stolen democratic clothes while retaining core individualistic beliefs. This has led to loss of accountability and management gobbledegook; and his own party can now see through him.
Given the nature of the man and the intrinsic flaws in the current leadership structure of the MDC, it is hard to see how they can turn things round. And despite the absence of an obvious policy alternative or viable political strategy, if MDC members become convinced that Tsvangirai has as much potential as Monty Python's famous ex-parrot, then moves to replace him should begin in earnest.
Since he has failed, the MDC project itself has failed, and Tsvangirai now finds he doesn't have a convincing story to tell.
Wazvionaka shamwari yangu Shanga.
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