MDC: a party of "excellence" led by "indecisive" Tsvangirai - what a contradiction!

MDC: “A party of excellence!” led by a “flawed and indecisive character”! Zanu PF: “The people’s choice!” led by a “ruthless and murderous tyrant”! Hydrogen burns with an invisible blue flame! Yes there is a contradiction in all the three statements above. If the hydrogen flame is invisible; then how can one the same flame have the colour, blue? Ever since Zimbabwe gained its independence and Mugabe was elected into office he has done everything including undermining the country’s democratic institution and widespread murder of his opponents to establish a de facto one-party one-man dictatorship. The people of Zimbabwe had no say, indeed they have been fighting to end this tyrannical imposition; so Mugabe or Zanu PF can not be considered the people’s choice! No one would ever choose to be ruled by a tyrant. People living under tyranny may be poor, very poor, ignorant and live in constant fear from being beaten and for their very lives but there is one thing one can say about them – they are not stupid. The tyrants will make appear that the victims of their misrule love them; who would be that stupid as to love the very system that deny them hope and human dignity! If Morgan Tsvangirai is a flawed and indecisive character how can the party, he leads, be a party of excellence? MDC’s pathetic performance ever since the party was formed in 1999 speaks volumes of both the leader and the party. MDC prides itself as “A party of excellence!” so the party’s chief propagandist, Nelson Chamisa never tires of telling us. If there is anything the USA and the West in general have done to MDC ever since the party’s formation in 1999 it is being supportive. So when Chris Dell, the USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe, said in 2002 in a leaked report to Washington that Morgan Tsvangirai was “a flawed and indecisive character”; he was being honest and sincere. There was no malice in the Ambassador. One has only to look at Tsvangirai’s track record as leader of MDC to see Ambassador Dell was right. MDC has made one political blunder after another; proving again and again that it can not possibly be a party “of excellence”. The signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which allowed the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) is certainly one of the greatest blunders Tsvangirai and MDC have ever made. For a start, the very act of signing the GPA – put to one side that it was a flawed agreement – got Mugabe off the hook. After the sham presidential run-off in which Mugabe had resorted to intimidation, beatings, rape and murder at a scale never seen before in human history the international community flatly refused to recognise him as Zimbabwe’s legitimate head of state. Mugabe had two options; either to defy the international community and be shunned by everyone or to hold fresh elections. After all the abuse the electorate had suffered the Zimbabwean voters would have cherished to show Mugabe and the whole world what the thought of the tyrant in a free vote! But by signing the GPA Tsvangirai got Mugabe off the hook. The GPA itself was so one side; it gave Mugabe all the dictatorial powers and none to Tsvangirai. There was widespread outcry against the GPA and Tsvangirai was advised not to sign it but, of course, he would not listen. For first year of the GNU Tsvangirai has put on a brave face defending the GNU at every turn. In the last year he has finally admitted that the GNU was not working. It took a significant escalation of Zanu PF violence against MDC leaders and supporters to ram home the message that the GNU was not working. The message was rammed home so forcefully that many expected Tsvangirai to finally walk out of the GNU. But even when the decision was forced on him still he dithered; underlining just how indecisive he really is. With up coming MDC congress one would think members would be keen to replace Tsvangirai and a few other party leaders. The party’s constitution says a leader is to serve not more that two successive five year terms; Tsvangirai was already served two five year terms. Member should have looked at the party’s electoral system by now to ensure the party will never again elect flawed and indecisive leaders or worse! Instead one province after another MDC delegates said they would want Tsvangirai and a few others to return their leadership position at the end of the congress. Last year, Zanu PF congress endorsed Mugabe as that party’s presidential candidate for the next elections. The tyrant is now dogged by ill health and after three disastrous decades as Zimbabwe’s head of state the tyrant has made Zanu PF totally unelectable. So why do Zanu PF members still want him as the party leader? The answer is not so obvious at first sight. Zanu PF knows the party would suffer a humiliating defeat in a free and fair election. So the party is banking on ensuring the election is NOT free and fair for yet another Zanu PF electoral “victory”. And the party has once again picked Mugabe; a man they know will intimidate, terrorise, rape and commit mass murder without batting an eye! Similarly MDC members are not counting on competent leader to making their party electable. In a free and fair elections MDC will win against Zanu PF hands down. Professor Jonathan Moyo, a maverick Zimbabwean politician, who has been Mugabe’s blue eyed boy one moment and thorn-in-the-backside the next said Mugabe would lose a free election to a donkey just to underline how unelectable the later has become. Whilst it is true that MDC’s electoral success in the past was based on the public’s disgust with Mugabe and Zanu PF. It would be a grave mistake for MDC to pick their hopes on this firstly because the MDC should not count their chickens before they hatch; Mugabe has outwitted Tsvangirai on numerous occasions already and the cunning fox can do it again. Secondly there are other parties for the voters to pick beside MDC. Third, more significantly, the people of Zimbabwe are desperate to get out of this hell-on-earth Mugabe landed the nation a flawed leader will not get them out. There is an important lesson to be learnt from Zanu PF and MDC members’ election of a tyrant and a flawed character as their respective leaders – they are not interested in law and order, democracy, human rights, economic recovery, etc. All the party members want is get a leader who will help them secure a position on the feeding trough as quickly as possible for as long as possible. If there are ever to be competent and visionary leaders in Zimbabwe then it is us, the ordinary citizens, who must pick them by using our vote selectively and wisely.