There are many reasons why this GNU of Mugabe and Tsvangirai has been a failure and is doomed to fail. One of the main reason has to be that it is a Mugabe regime in all but name. Everyone can see that; everyone that is except, sadly, the man above all else who should- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai himself.
Zimbabwe’s bloated GNU is meeting in Victoria Falls, supposedly to give the inclusive government some focus – something that has been noticeably lacking. The regime has behaved in much the same as Mugabe regimes of the past ruthless repressive and wasteful of the nation's resources. Tsvangirai and some of his MDC colleagues are holding key government positions but they have not changed a single thing on the ground as the they have generally been ignored. Tsvangirai, it seems, does not understand the situation.“From your knowledge of the GPA you will see that much of it focuses on building upon and promoting the people’s freedoms, otherwise known as human rights,” Tsvangirai told the bloated GNU delegates. He did say “these are neither optional nor negotiable” which is not true because he has made these rights negotuable all along and is in Victoria Falls to negotiate that very point with Mugabe. My fellow Zimbabweans, we are dealing here with a ruthless and heartless dictator here who has ruined the nation by selling the nation’s silver to bride and corrupt State Security Chiefs, members of the judiciary, his party cronies, thugs and hooligans so they will do his political biding. He plugged the nation into an economic and political nightmare and stopped at nothing including the murder of hundred of thousands of innocent lives for political gain. All his political life, Mugabe has treated ordinary Zimbabweans with nothing but contempt. These people's political rights meant nothing to him.
That is the same dictator Tsvangirai now expects to give up his dictatorial powers because he signed some GPA with him, Tsvangirai? What a joke.
The other thing Tsvangirai clearly failed to understand is that the basic human rights should never be bargained away like water-melons at the market. That is why they are called "basic and fundamental". Every Zimbabwean weak or strong, rich or poor must enjoy these rights as a matter of course. “. . the police must be empowered to protect those protected by the law,” appealed Tsvangirai to Robert Mugabe. What? Not only is the right to law and order negotiable, Tsvangirai has been reduced to begging the dictator!
Power is something Mugabe understands; he has enjoyed absolute power for the last three decades and clearly has no intention of giving any of it up. To see Tsvangirai grovel before him; must tickles him greatly.
After six weeks as Prime Minister; power, it seems, is getting into Tsvangirai’s head too. “We who are gathered here today, hold the future of our nation in our hands,” he told his fellow GNU leaders. Of course, Tsvangirai is being naïve to think that he has an meaningful power; all real power remains firmly in the hands of the dictator, Robert Mugabe. That is precisely what it wrong with this GNU; it failed to give power to the ordinary Zimbabweans.
The GNU was the only option Mugabe had left for him to retain power after the sham June 2008 election. He has retained his dictatorial powers intact and has appointed many of his own cronies in key posts. The only fly in his ointment, it seems, is that has to listen to Tsvangirai talking his usual nonsense! But that is a small price to pay.
Like it or not, Tsvangirai is shallow, thick and slow. It is Zimbabwe’s rotten luck that at this critical stage in our history, the nation’s destiny should be in such competent hands!
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