"SA lacks will to rescue Zimbabwe" - as we lack will to rescue ourselves W Mukori

 Dear Tendai Dumbutshena 

Thank you very much for yet another informative and thought provoking article, “SA lacks the will to rescue Zimbabwe” in Bulawayo 24.

“But hope springs eternal. Giving up is not an option. The conscious elements of society must lead the struggle to change how the country is governed. All hands on deck. Civil society organisations, political parties, churches, youth formations and other stakeholders have a responsibility to fight for a country they can be proud to call their own. All this must be done with a clear understanding that change can only come from within Zimbabwe. Those foreigners of goodwill will take their cue from what Zimbabweans themselves do. Beware of envoys from Pretoria who come bearing gifts,” you said.

I do agree that hope springs eternal and that, if we are ever to get out of this mess, we must look to ourselves first and foremost and then look to the West. There will be no help coming from SADC, particularly from SA; not now. 

The Chinese are the hidden nation banished in the dark ages back to wreck vengeance galore on Zimbabwe. The Chinese are the shadowy figure, the real power behind the Zanu PF dictatorship. Our fight for democratic change is not just against Zanu PF but, more significantly, against the mighty of the Chinese who are determined to keep Zanu PF in power come hell or high water for their own selfish economic advantage!

Our fight for democratic change is therefore going to be a tough one and to have an hope of victory, we must be tough and focused. To start with, we must be frank and honest about our own strengths and weaknesses.

“The putative unity government his (Thabo Mbeki) mediation yielded enabled Zanu-PF to outmanoeuvre a gullible MDC and reassert its dominance. With Zanu-PF now firmly in the saddle and the situation in the country "stable" the ANC is happy with the outcome,” you argued.

“To be fair to the much-maligned Zuma, when he took over the role of mediator in 2009, he mandated his two envoys to Zimbabwe to push for the creation of conditions for free and fair elections after the expiry of the unity government. That this did not happen was the fault of the unity government dominated by Zanu-PF, with the two MDC parties coopted as impotent junior partners.”

There were many things one could have done to improve Zimbabwe’s 2008 to 2013 GNU; I admit it. However, there was still a lot the GNU could and should have accomplished, most notably it could and should have implemented the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement. 

Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues failed to implement even one token reform in five years of the GNU because they were corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. By participating in flawed and illegal 2013 elections and all the elections thereafter MDC leaders and the rest in the opposition camp are giving credibility to the flawed election process and thus giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF. Proof the failure to implement the reforms was not just a one off gaff by a gullible opposition. 

What is more, the MDC leaders know participating in the flawed elections was wrong but did it anywhere out of greed as David Coltart, MDC A Treasurer General and Minister of Education in the GNU, admitted.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” wrote Senator Coltart.

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”

What Coltart should have admitted that SADC leaders had warned him and his fellow MDC leaders of the folly of participated in the 2013 elections with no reforms. “If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!” SADC leaders had warned.

Tsvangirai and company ignored SADC leaders’ advice and they would not do what they readily admit was “the obvious - withdraw from the elections” because they were after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF giving away a bait. 

Of course, SADC leaders had no choice but to accept the vote rigging Zanu PF as the de facto government. What else could they have done after MDC leaders had ignored their warning!

As we speak Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A, Douglas Mwonzora and his MDC-T and all the other opposition politicians are all gearing to participate in the coming 2023 elections; they are all fully aware Zanu PF has not implemented even one token reform. Not one!

Like it or not Chamisa and his fellow opposition politicians claim that they are fighting for democracy and good governance on behave of the long suffering Zimbabweans. One is compelled to accept this foolishness, in the absence of a convincing counter narrative showing MDC leaders are corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs whose actions in the past and present are undermining the fight for reforms and democracy. 

MDC leaders have long stopped fighting for democratic reforms and free, fair and credible elections. We need to stay it loud and clear so that the ordinary Zimbabweans who continue to follow MDC leaders like sheep to the slaughter understand it and stop. 

The demand to implement the democratic reform BEFORE the next elections is frontline in the fight for freedom and human rights in Zimbabwe. Zanu PF is not going to implement any reforms because the party is confident the MDC leaders will participate in the elections and thus earning Zanu PF the de facto legitimacy. Our contour move is to make sure MDC leaders have no political credibility, if they ever again participate in flawed and illegal elections. 

If the MDC were once upon a time the nation’s champions in the fight for democracy and good governance, it is now clear that they now have a separate agenda - they are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering as bait. 

Our failure to accept MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent has been one of our greatest weakness in our fight for a democratic Zimbabwe ever since the disastrous failure by MDC leaders to implement even one reform during the GNU! 

Accepting MDC leaders are not the heroes and heroines we believed them to be is a bitter pill to swallow. Swallowing our misplace trust and blind loyalty will mean the nation stepping back from the brink!

Frankly we should have learned of the dangers of blind loyalty after seeing what became of the Zanu PF libration war heroes and heroines once they got into power. Of course, we have been blind not to see Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends for what they really are - corrupt, incompetent and sell-out - all these years! We must do so now!

“SA lacks the will to rescue Zimbabwe!” True but whether or not we have the will to rescue ourselves, depends on us opening our eyes and minds and finally admit to ourselves that MDC leaders are not going to rescue us.