ZIMBABWE'S CATCH 22: HAVE A DICTATOR WHOM THE OPPOSITION IS SCARED STIFF OF AND THE PEOPLE ARE SCARED OF GETTING RID OF THE BLUNDERING OPPOSITION.

This would be really funny if it was not that the consequences are unbearable! MDC President and Prime Minister of Zimbabwe is in Davos, Switzerland calling on the West to lift sanctions “to reward the progress made by the inclusive government”. Back in Zimbabwe his key party leaders, Minister Nelson Chamisa and Minister Tendai Biti are saying there is NO PROGRESS.

The parties to the inclusive government have been negotiating on the trivial issues of who occupies what office and a year later, they still can not agree. The really important issues affecting the ordinary people like restoring law and order and getting the national economy back on track remain untouched. The people continue to suffer and die!

What is the way forward? The people of Zimbabwe have to realise that this circus will continue until they finally learn that they have to look to themselves to force change. We have been conditioned to look “to our political leaders” for the answers to all our problems. When they leaders themselves are the problem, as is the case here; it is a totally different kettle of fish!

Tsvangirai is now the problem, just as Mugabe became a problem soon after independence. People realised Mugabe was incompetent, corrupt and repressive as far back as 1985 and yet for years they really believed Mugabe face up to all his serious short comings.

After years of breath taking blundering, flip-flopping and down right betrayal of the people by MDC, particularly its leadership; many Zimbabweans have finally reached the point were they are “angry” with MDC. The people are angry but not enough to reject MDC and search for a way out themselves; that is a bridge-too-far for them.

Just as Tsvangirai and MDC have the political muscle to force Mugabe out of power but are too scared to stand up to him; the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves have the political power to force Tsvangirai and Mugabe out of office but they too are scared to use this people’s power. Mugabe has of course taken full advantage of this to give Tsvangirai the run around. Similarly Tsvangirai too learnt to do as he please and completely ignore the wishes of the people and their tragic on going suffering.

We are is a catch 22 situation in Zimbabwe: we want to get rid of a dictator using an opposition party too scared to use the people’s mandate we gave them and we are too scared to use our people’s power to remove the ineffective opposition!