Tsvangirai is a weak leader it is folly to pretend is not!

Morgan Tsvangirai is a “weak and indecisive leader.” Outsiders like former USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe Chris Dell have said so. Numerous ordinary Zimbabweans have said the same thing and so has leading MDC leaders like Tendai Biti, Ray Bennet and Nelson Chamisa. The gene is out of the bottle and there is no putting it back.

Morgan Tsvangirai has been a leading player in Zimbabwe politics for the last tens years and the last three on the coal face as the country’s Prime Minister. Clearly the nation has had enough time for them to make their own decision on whether or not Tsvangirai is indeed a “weak and indecisive leader.” My own straw poll (unscientific) of Zimbabweans who have voted for Tsvangirai and MDC I 2008 and got the following result:

WikiLeaks reports are “WikiLies” (MDC’s official position) 60%
WikiLeaks reports are true but do not agree 30%
WikiLeaks reports are true and agree Tsvangirai is a weak 10%

WikiLeaks reports have also shown that there have been many leaders close to Mugabe who did not think much of him they wanted him to step down as President. Asking the same people whether they believed these reports the result was telling.

WikiLeaks reports are true and Mugabe should go 90%
WikiLeaks reports are not true 10%

It was interesting to note that most of the people who very readily dismissed WikiLeaks revelations about Tsvangirai as lies readily accepted the reports about Mugabe as true. Turn back the clock to say 1990 and ask the same Zimbabweans above the question: “Is Mugabe a tyrant?”

No Mugabe is not a tyrant 80%
Yes Mugabe is a tyrant 20%

Considering that by 1990 Mugabe held two post independence elections and none of them were anywhere near free and fair and to top that he had murdered over 20 000 in his effort to eliminate PF Zapu and establish the de facto one-party dictatorship which the nation has lived under ever since.

After all Tsvangirai’s many blunders in the last ten years it is unbelievable that anyone can even doubt that he is anything but a weak and indecisive leader. The biggest blunder Tsvangirai has made was to allow Mugabe back into power after the sham June 2008 run-off election by signing the power sharing agreement with the tyrant. From the word-go people told him the arrangement would not work and it took two years for Tsvangirai to finally admit it he had no real power.

As a people we love burying our collective head in the sand when we should be facing the threat before us, hoping that it would go away. Our failure to stop Mugabe in 1990 has costed us dearly and we should have learnt the lesson. Sadly, we learnt nothing because now we are glossing over Tsvangirai’s serious shortcomings as a leader just as we did with Mugabe.

Tsvangirai signed the power sharing agreement with Mugabe because he KNEW he was weak and would not be able to rule the country with the dictator’s cooperation even with the overwhelming electoral mandate. It is for the same reason that Tsvangirai has consistently refused to use MDC’s parliamentary majority to stop Mugabe autocratic abuse of power. The WikiLeaks revelations have made things even worse; now he also KNOWS that many of those close to him consider him a “weak and indecisive leader”. Even if he was to win the next elections convincingly, Tsvangirai will go out of his way at least one of the Zanu PF faction on his side.

The price Tsvangirai will have to pay for Zanu PF’s support is that the later get to keep all their loot and all their past crimes will be swept under the carpet. Zimbabwe’s economic recovery is totally dependent on get the looted land, mines, wealth, etc. being recovered and put to good use for the benefit of all. If people like Police Commissioner Chihuri are allowed to keep their job and Chipangano Gangsters are integrated into the security services, for example, then this chance to finally build a democratic Zimbabwe will be snuffed out for years to come!

There are two types of man in this world; those going somewhere and those going nowhere! As a nation, in Zimbabwe we are going nowhere. To blame the leaders like Mugabe for Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is to miss the point because the nation should have never allowed him to have tyrannical power let alone wield it again and again with such tragic consequences. We all want a free, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe but will not pay the price demanded – an electorate who take their duty of electing quality leaders very serious! Tsvangirai is a weak and indecisive leader and there is volume of evidence to prove that and therefore to ignore this is sheer folly!