"2008 GNU was about power, position and sanitising Zanu PF" Chamisa finally admits - likewise 2018 P Guramatunhu

“Desperate Chamisa now wants a transitional govt!” screamed the headline in News Day. 

News Day was spot on Chamisa is now desperate and one does not need to be a psychoanalyst to see that it was power and position that the MDC Alliance was desperate for. 

"The transitional authority is going to be a creature of the discussions, we do not want to define the confines and parameters of it now because we want a national discourse," Chamisa said. 

“We want something that is not going to compromise the MDC because we don't want a repeat of 2008, where we were used to chlorinate the infected.

"We don't want a repeat of 2008 and once beaten twice shy, the agenda is not about power, positions, but answers to the people of Zimbabwe. We need permanent answers to resolve the national question." 

The people of Zimbabwe do not need me to remind them that at the time of signing the 2008 GNU and throughout its five years MDC leaders insisted they were in the GNU because it was in the nation’s best interest. The biggest problem the GNU was set up to resolve was stopping the curse of rigged elections. 

SADC leaders, all due credit to them, had managed to get Zanu PF to agree, in the Global Political Agreement, to the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the de facto one-party dictatorship Zanu PF had imposed on the nation. 

The task of getting these key reforms implemented fell on Morgan Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders, including Chamisa. We know that MDC failed to get even one single reform implemented in five years much to horror of everyone including SADC leaders who had repeatedly reminded Tsvangirai and company of the need to implement the reforms. 

For the first time ever Nelson Chamisa is admitting MDC had not implement even one reform in five years of the GNU because to him and his fellow MDC leaders the 2008 to 2013 GNU was about “power, position and chlorinating the infections Zanu PF”. 

Chamisa and his MDC Alliance now want to form a transition government with Zanu PF whose purpose and set tasks are:

1. returning to legitimacy (i.e. chlorinate ED and Zanu PF)

2. undertaking comprehensive reforms (revisiting the same raft of democratic reforms of the last GNU which MDC leaders has forgotten about for the next five years as soon as they got the power and position they were after) 

3. nation-building and peace-building (What nation building did MDC do in the last GNU? Zero!)

4. having a common approach to international isolation (The west pointedly refused to lift any sanctions on Zanu PF leaders during the GNU, for example; in total disregard all the incessant begging to do so from MDC leaders. The west saw from the onset of the GNU that MDC had no meaningful power or influence in the GNU, they were there for the generous ministerial perks and to sanitise the Zanu PF dictatorship.
   
   The investors, lenders, and many western governments have shied away from investing in Zimbabwe because the country is a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. They are not going to reverse their policies just because Chamisa has been given a fancy title and drives a ministerial limo!)

5. and addressing the economic situation (The little economic recover of the last GNU years did not last hence the reason the nation is in this mess. There will never be any meaningful and lasting economic recovery without first resolving the pariah state curse.)

The 2008 to 2013 GNU failed to get even one democratic reform implemented because MDC leaders did not care about reforms, they still do not care about reforms. Chamisa is desperate to see the formation of the transition government because he is desperate to get back on the gravy train, he wants power and position.

After 38 years of economic ruin and murderous oppression under this Zanu PF dictatorship there is a crying need for this nation to finally implement the democratic reforms and end this curse of pariah state. The only sure way to get the reforms implemented is for this illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step aside so the nation can appoint an interim administration tasked to implement the reforms. 

We do not want another fudged Zanu PF/MDC GNU, it is a criminal waste of time and human and material resources - neither of which we can ill afford to waste!