Ibbo Mandaza mourns "by stander" opposition in the spirit of one expecting blood from a stone!

"Opposition parties have largely become by-standers in the unfolding Zanu-PF factional and succession drama that is negatively impacting on the country and its economy,” observed Ibbo Mandaza, a political analyst and commentator.

The lack of quality in our so called expects has not helped us avoid this economic and political mess we now find ourselves in and, worse still, nor will it help us get out of the mess. Ibbo Mandaza said the “opposition parties have largely become by-standers” as if he really expected them to do something useful.

We are talking here of the MDC opposition which failed to get not even one democratic reform implemented in five years of the GNU. These are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent men and women with no principles or sense of moral responsibility to anyone. For a seat on the gravy train and $ 4 million Highlands mansion for Tsvangirai they sold-out to Mugabe and kick reforms into the tall grass.

There are many, many lessons we as a nation should have learned in the last 36 years of relentless march from a nation full of hope and confidence in 1980 to the impoverished and disillusioned nation we are today. One of the many lessons we should have learnt is the critical importance of electing good leaders; like it or not this nation is not going anywhere until we learn this lesson.

“It pays in the end, to buy the best in the beginning!” ran the Eric Davies advert, a quality man’s wear shop in Harare and Bulawayo.

The price of electing poor leaders to the nation is even higher than the price the individual pays for buying a poor quality shirt from one of those “Tinopangana” shops.

In 2008, with the shops empty and the value of Z$ not even worth the paper it was printed on, Zimbabweans were desperate for democratic change they risked life and limp in 2008 to vote for Tsvangirai et al. Sadly they were so desperate they did not pay attention to the key issue of quality. Tsvangirai and his friends have since turned out to be breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent; they failed to bring about even one single change in their five years in the GNU.

To expect Tsvangirai at el to come up with anything remotely useful now or ever is to fail to see them for the breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent and sell-outs they are. One does not expect blood from a stone so why should one expect something useful or competent from a breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent person!

Zimbabweans have yet to take the business of electing competent leaders with the seriousness and urgency the matter demands because until we do, our 36 year march into the abyss will continue! By placing our hopes of getting out of this hell on corrupt and incompetent leaders like Tsvangirai and Joice Mujuru – expecting blood out of stone – shows we are not serious about getting out.