Tsvangirai pullout 'wrong decision at the wrong time'

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By Staff Reporters

MORGAN Tsvangirai’s decision to pull out of Friday’s presidential election runoff was a “wrong move at the wrong time”, says Professor Jonathan Moyo, a leading Zimbabwean political commentator and independent MP.

Moyo, a former information minister in President Mugabe’s government now turned one of his most vocal critics, said while Tsvangirai had deprived Mugabe of the legitimacy he craves, he was gambling on his political career as well.

"It is the most unwise decision that they have ever made," Moyo said in an interview. "How can they withdraw five days before the election and yet people were being beaten and killed all along?"

Tsvangirai said he was pulling out because violence against his supporters had made it impossible to campaign. But Mugabe’s government said his withdrawal was a nullity as there was no such provision in the law -- clearing the way for elections to be held.

Moyo said it was unfortunate that Tsvangirai had made the decision when all along he had been saying "no amount of violence or intimidation would stop the opposition from romping to victory."

“It’s a wrong move at the wrong time. There is a danger that by pulling out of the election, Tsvangirai has dug a political grave for himself,” Moyo said. “It will compound Mugabe’s legitimacy crisis, but may wreck Tsvangirai’s career.”

Moyo said the move exposed Tsvangirai’s weaknesses and inconsistencies. “It reflects badly on Tsvangirai. As recently as last week, he said he didn’t need to campaign because voters had already made up their minds. He said no amount of violence will make Mugabe win. And last Saturday, he said was contesting the runoff which he claimed no-one can cancel.

“Right from the March elections he didn’t know what to do,” Moyo said. “First, he said he was not contesting the runoff because he had allegedly won. Later he said he was in. In the meantime, he left the country on an unclear diplomatic mission. He built a myth of unassailability, only to shatter it himself.”

It was not all condemnation for Tsvangirai. One of his main foes, Professor Welshman Ncube, a senior official in the rival MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara, said Tsvangirai’s decision to pull out was the “right thing to do”.

“He didn’t have a choice. Where in the world have you seen an election in which only one of the candidates is allowed to campaign? Mugabe is the only one who was campaigning, using state resources and security forces. How on earth do you have an election in which both of the candidates say even if I lose I won’t accept the result,” Ncube said.

“This is no longer an election. It has become a charade, a monumental farce.”
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