Tsvangirai is not a mini Mugabe!

ZIMBABWE-HARARE-They assert that Morgan will be the same as Mugabe the day he assumes power, so why bother change; politicians are like napkins that all get wet at one point or another.

Laurent Kabila removed Joseph Mobutu but was soon behaving like him; Chiluba even worse than Kaunda; Muluzi became a mini Banda…

It is not crime to hold and air views in a democracy, but it abysmal folly to hold ones which are too abstract to exist. Chinotimba loves lives and licks Mugabe; it is a fact of life.

Needless to say that the hooligan does not know what Zanu stands for and whether or not it has any future. The same goes for the rest of the Zanu cast apart from Rwavhi himself. I support the MDC; support it with a discerning mind, not as if I am bewitched.

But before becoming bogged down in an argument of who supports what, let’s put the jeremiads of the fence sitters into their proper perspective. First was Kabila any serious leader? The answer is a resounding no.

By the time he toppled Mobutu’s rag-tag forces, he had been fighting them for almost three decades. He once had the support of Che Guevara who stopped supporting him because he spent most of his time drinking and womanizing (Joseph is one such result) instead of organizing and leading.

And some still expected him to be a sober leader, a communist? There was no way in which Muluzi who had served in the tyrant Banda’s cabinet at a point in time could become a dyed in the wool democratic. The less said about little Chiluba the better.

And there is current no fence to sit on in Zimbabwe . There is an ocean of differences between the protagonists, an unfathomable gap that is almost impossible to bridge. Zanu is a party of self-seeking accomplices of Mugabe and rent-seeking renegades.

How do you explain a party where someone comes from the floor, hops, skips and jumps the hierarchy and finds themselves perched near the apex of the heap without any vote conducted? Joyce did it, of late Simon Khaya. And what does the clenched stands for, and has proffered?

Unity, peace and development. Where are the unity, peace and development in a country that has been so tribally divided, people brutally attacked day and night, and development? At least may be their emblem only applies to the party, inside.

Yes they are united, there was never and is no open revolt against the leader despite the fact that things are falling apart big time because of him. He blames them, the sanctions and the totem-less people for the party’s vicissitudes.

Unity and peace are two sides of the same coin; there is no fighting, so there is peace. The loyal cadres of the movement have developed immensely. Look at that former junior lecturer in the faculty of education at the UZ, I mean the Indian educated Morgan Chombo; 16 farms, uncountable houses and three wives.

He only had one house and one wife Marion in 1994 when he joined the cabinet in 1994 as Mashonaland governor. What he already had and has kept are white hairs. That is the kind of development they mean about.

Legend has it that Tsvangirai was once a diehard supporter of Rwavhi in the early 80s. His disenchantment with Zanu establishment, the same legend says came when Rwavhi instructed Parents Shiri to rob the Ndebele kids of their parents.

To Rwavhi and crew, they were fighting dissidents, Richard Gwesela and Guy Gusvu amongst them. Yet to Morgan, that represented a relentless, unnecessary genocide.

The west that Rwavhi now reviles for supporting Morgan were then supporting Rwavhi through thick and thin, even conferring honorary degrees upon him. Nyamuzihwa even named his bus number 5 fifth brigade to celebrate Shiri’s Korea trained military unit that merciless decimated the Ndebeles.

I know the bus, I used to board it. Tsvangiari is not Ndebele, neither was he married to one. He had ample room to support Mugabe during his moments of madness, but he chose to oppose him openly.

That was the origin of the bad blood between the two which has continued unabated. To me and like minded people, that says a lot about Morgan’s personality, his leadership qualities.

I do not coin the name leader with a blood thirsty moron, never!
Zanu was formed as a Shona movement and explicitly excluded the Ndaus as well.

Enos Nkala was the only notable Ndebele figure there. Having explicitly excluded the two tribes from the party, it was inevitable that Rwavhi was going to reluctantly drag them through as later manifested in the Gukurahundi/Entumbane and Chimwenje fiascos.

The MDC was on the other hand, formed as a tribally balanced, broad based organization.

Zanu pundits have noted the absence of Zezurus from the MDC. It is not true; Chimanikire, Pfebve, Jiri, Tafadzwa Musekiwa, and the list is endless. The majority of the Zezuru had of late felt comfortable with Mugabe regime (or at least forced to) as shown by the landslide victories that the party scored in the region in recent elections.

How then could Tsvangirai drag along reluctant peoples when the willing ones are available in superabundance? Zanu was primed to failed from the word go because it was formed on a parochial platform to execute a parochial mandate.

The same cannot be said of the MDC. Zanu was formed in the absence of Mugabe and he was parachuted to joining it (just like Arthur). In the process, he might have hijacked the original plan of the party and took it along his desired direction.

He had to spend his entire political career fighting dissent within the party with some deaths attributed to him. Scorched earth policy has been applied to open rebels like Tekere.

All this while the party and country rot, invaluable resources channeled towards fighting useless internal wars. In contrast, Tsvangirai formed the MDC. As the old saying goes, cut your won wood and it will warm you twice. He seems to exactly know where the party is coming from and its destination.

There have been deaths in his party but all attributed to Zanu- Jongwe, Mpala, Joe Ndlovu, and Chiminya.

He has adopted an open door policy for those who want to join and disaffected members who want to jump sheep, Chimanikire can attest to this. No resources especially time is wasted wrestling rebels who want to find an alternative home.

Mugabe never cared about the future of Zanu, let alone that of the country. He has consistently constituted his parochial church council (presidium) with cadres that are post the civil service retirement age of fifty five.

If a teacher who handles forty pupils is forced to retire because they are told old to manage such an insignificant group of souls, what is the rationale of letting a geriatric with one foot in the grave handle the destiny of a country of 16 million souls, including the said forty kids? It was Joshua, Joseph and Simon Vengai.

Now it is Joyce (55), John (74) and Simon Goho (64) all grandparents (provided they did not marry at sixty six like their master). With the country’s life expectancy pegged at 37, these would them be the biblical Adams, Eve and Abrahams that lived quite long.

They are already engrossed with their lives after death to bother about matters mortal, let alone issues developmental. What makes the group more peculiar is their collective malign not to care about the future of their own grandkids, hey! They are part of Mugabe’s collective fair, but he chose them, those chose to fail.

Tsvangirai surrounds himself with spring chicken, some young enough to be bachelors and spinsters. He consistently selects a team that is still growing to grow with the party and the country.

And as the adage goes, a young tree is easier to bend; the youth easily dovetail into the party’s ethos. They can also bring changes as and when the situation dictates.

And there is openness and democracy in the MDC, to an extent never witnessed before in our beloved country. Welsh wanted some senate seats for his relatives and realizing that Morgan was opposed to that, pulled out of the party with a group of “intellectuals” to launch parallel structures in Bulawayo.

Morgan gave them his blessings; they were not terrorized like happened to Tekere and Company when they formed Zum, or Nkomo and Masuku when they left Rwavhi’s cabinet in the 80s.

An ungifted Gift, a Simon Sipepa and the legendary Shakespeare decided to come back to Morgan. They were not subjected to through security checks or unprecedented sanctions.

They only had their previous positions to lose because since nature abhors a vacuum, when they left their positions had to be filled. That is how parties grow, and become stronger, and leaders earn respect. It is a know recipe for a party’s success, tolerance.

Corruption has been one of the shenanigans of Zanu. Scandal after scandal; Willow gate, War vets looting, skewed land reform, poaching, chikorokoza at Chiyadzwa just to name a few.

Coupled with this the refusal to at least come clean on the mess; the Land Audit requested by the MDC has been spurned by none other than Rwavhi himself, with 5,000 ghost teachers unearthed Masvingo alone, just project the sample to whole civil service and see the full gloomy picture.

The constitutional process that the MDC dared give a head start has been hampered by none other than Joao and Saviour masquerading as war vet leaders.

What do these kulisanas know about the constitution? Mugabe has not opened his mouth on any of these indicating that he gave the perpetrators the green light and is also involved. That is why he is branded a failure.

Tsvangirai has not tolerated corruption within his ranks. The disciplining of the entire Chitungwiza executive pending the bogus sale of stands in the town sends a clear message about his stance on the matter.

The UK has been dissolved for almost similar reasons. The correct tone is set at the top and we down here are glad that we may reap the fruits of our sweat under Tsvangirai.

Failure will not be an option under Tsvangirai if he dares maintain that tempo going forward.

Mugabe is an apostle of a bloated cabinet with ministries given flowery names yet deficient in substance.

At the height of his insanity, he went on to have a ministry of interactive affairs led by Chenhamo that did not even interact with anyone. He had a record fifty ministries! Tsvangirai has promised us a trim executive of 15 ministries. Here is my proposal for the ministries (17 though and the holders and deputies thereof):

· Agriculture: Bennett, Thami Mahlangu – to encompass all farming, water and mechanization
· Defence: Mutsekwa, Timba
· Education: Mhashu, Zvidzai – to include all education, crèche to PhD
· Finance: Mashakada, Kay
· Foreign Affairs: Bhebhe, Zwizwai
· Health: Madzorera, Chebundo
· Industry and Trade: Cross, Mlambo
· Internal Affairs: Biti, Njabuliso Mguni
· Justice: Matinenga, Gonese
· Labour: Mpariwa, Norman Mpofu- to include public service and welfare
· Local government: Nkomo, Houghton – to include housing and public works
· Mines: Mudzuri, Masaiti- to encompass energy
· Presidency: Gorden – to deal with reforms and other presidency office duties
· Security and parastatals: Josephat Jirihanga Mugadzaweta- do not you worry, I am going to win the poll in my constituency come next vote, whenever it comes. And Mr President I do not need a deputy to save on costs.
· Sport: Pfebve, Madzore- to encompass culture that has taken a backseat under Rwavhi
· Tourism: Gabuza, Majome
· Transport and communications: Chamisa, Pfebve

Such a trim executive coupled with a parliament of 150 will go a long way in saving on costs that go with a bloated cabinet.

The funds so released will then find way to their intended beneficiaries, the masses. Mugabe has failed to do it that is why he has been a monumental failure.

A look at Mugabe’s track record is reminiscent of reading Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (1592). Not to say he is only leader that has failed to run a country.

The late Yar’Adua failed to revvy Nigeria . For his failures, however, Umaru was the quietest ever African leader. Mugabe is voluble. He wants to blame anyone who dares criticize him for failure- Britain , US, Canada , Botswana , Australia .

Mobutu looted the Zairean treasury. Mugabe did the same to Zimbabwean one. In addition to looting, he killed those that spoke about it. Kaunda run down the Zambian economy during his tenure.

When the winds of democracy swept across Africa , he gave way to a younger, more energetic leader. Mugabe ruined the local economy. When democracy came, he wanted to kill all those behind it.

He vows to die on the messed throne. Gaddafi has sit tight on the Libyan throne yet his people are working and they not starving. Mugabe continues to milk the bony Zimbabweans despite poverty levels having reached epic proportions.

And just take a moment to think of the booing to which Tsvangirai was exposed to in the UK on a tour in 2009. If it was Mugabe, I tell you he should have hired the Scotland yard at whatever cost and fix those disporans.

And the purpose of the indaba was to lure back Zimbos who fled the very Mugabe’s misrule. Because Tsvangirai is not Mugabe and does not like to be one, he ought to succeed where Mugabe willfully messed up.

And to fully underline the yawning chasm between Mugabe and Tsvangirai is the recent reshuffle by His Excellency Dziva.

Mugabe plainly opposed it because he has routinely recycled his deadwood for 30 years partly explaining why the nulli para could not deliver any tangible thing on the development front.

Some are awaiting Tsvangirai to take the full reins, rule for 100 days like Delano Roosevelt and then judge him from there. Others like Jirihanga have been closely scrutinizing the man for the past decade, and got satisfied.

You do not wait for a man to sit in the big office, swinging chair, big fan and an agile tea lady in order to gauge their effectiveness. Observe his step to that office and the songs that his entourage sings.

They will tell you the tone of his government and you may stop in his tracks before he even reach that offices if they are singing dirgeful songs. Mugabe did it but we waited for the hundred 100 days which led to a generation of delirium.

Josephat Jirihanga Mugadzaweta