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Mutambara can fight Mugabe at two levels
By
Conrad Nyamutata
THE
euphoria surrounding Arthur Mutambara’s entry into the political
ring begs for some analysis. A highly educated man, Mutambara joins
Zimbabwean politics at a time when the opposition is in total disarray.
At a time of acrimony and bitter division.
It is this aspect, perhaps, which spoils his emergence into the political arena. I say this because Mutambara has been forced to take a side with one of the MDC factions. It means, at the point of entry, he will obviously not enjoy the support of supporters loyal to Morgan Tsvangirai.
Sadly, all this
is happening when, more than ever, we need a united opposition in Zimbabwe.
But then Mutambara has the right to choose his friends.
Does he hold the hope of a nation seeking salvation?
Up until he issued his terse statement, I was beginning to be uncomfortable about the whole outpouring of adulation from several quarters. The source of my discomfort is that, by mere coincidence, Mutambara waltzed onto the scene at a time when a poignant example of personality cultism was so brutally evident. That is, Mugabe and the national celebration of his birthday. Such events place undue emphasis on the person. I believe the personality cultism is a bane of our politics, and a cancer we ought to root out.
I felt we were, and prematurely so, getting orgasmic about Mutambara without having heard about his vision and values. He had been away for a long time, and at least, we needed to know his leadership style, his vision and so on. The bits we know were about his exploits as a student leader, and of course, his resume. But we needed to know about the potential of a national leader. His vision of future for our country, how he would address the crippling crisis and so on. Then, we would have had genuine cause for a frenzy.
My hero, Nelson Mandela, quickly comes to mind. Until he had outlined his post-prison vision, we all had reason to be sceptical. Or we should. And when he eventually espoused the vision of unity – a rainbow nation- for South Africa, the whole world stood up in collective adulation. It is the reason he is revered to this day.
Ironically, it is the same way Mugabe became the darling of the international community; he sold the policy of reconciliation. He was adored for the "let-bygones-be-bygones" refrain. Only that he did not live up to it.
Indeed, struggles should be followed by a vision of nation-building. It is the reason why the fascination, or worse still, the fanaticism, around Mutambara is worrisome insofar as it is premature. We seemed to be going agog when Mutambara had not even said a word. Neither has he been elected to the leadership of the MDC faction.
For that reason I found the frenetic response at the mention of his name only rather misplaced. I thought the Messiah - albeit a silent one - had eventually come to guarantee our salvation.
As I said I later drew a measure of comfort when he issued a curt statement about his vision for the future. I say a 'measure' because I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, not total loyalty the moment they open their mouth.
Mutambara sounded not to want to nurture division, which is important. He appeared to articulate sensible national values and a vision shared by the generality of Zimbabweans. That he is desirous to see the reunification of democratic forces made me think he probably knew what Zimbabwe needed most at the moment. I thought he might, after all, be having his finger on the pulse.
As many have already stated, divisions among the democratic forces only serve to prolong Mugabe’s misrule and our suffering as nation. At a time of the worst crisis in our time, it is a crying shame that things have fallen apart so badly within the opposition camp. It is undeniable that a strong opposition is critical at this point in time.
If Mutambara does become leader of the faction, it remains to be seen if he can mend the acrimonious rift. But it appears to me personal egos have been so inflated, it is more of hope than expectation that such repair can be achieved. As Brian Kagoro suggested a while ago, we need the leadership of the MDC to set aside their egos and talk. The national interest should supersede the personal egos.
But let us take a brief look at the frenzy around Prof Mutambara. I must admit that it is easy to understand the hullabaloo generated by this former student leader. First, he is a consummate intellectual, and secondly he has a background of ‘jambanja’. And a history of leading it too.
Therein lies his
appeal in particular within the middle class, working class, student
population and urban areas at large. I deliberately avoided using the
term “mass appeal” because Mutambara would still have to
endear himself with the rural populace, among whom his name and robotics
are hardly known.
But within his captive audience, Mutambara encompasses two elements
– high intellect and the capability for jambanja. Many of reasonable
intellectual capacity among us are, therefore, understandably thrilled
at the leadership of one from the intelligentsia. I shall not regurgitate
his impressive CV here. Even The Herald reproduced it in full!
Secondly, his appeal is based on his ‘fights’ with the regime while at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ). We all know that anyone who can stand up to a bully earns plaudits for heroism. Mutambara is ‘schooled’ in jambanja, which I will loosely translate as violent confrontation.
The history of post-independent Zimbabwe cannot be told without the role played by students at the UZ. It is fair to say that, until university students during Mutambara’s era introduced the nation to violent confrontation against state organs, we were as good as sitting ducks at the mercy of an all powerful regime.
When Mutambara and
Co were proving a pain in the wrong place for the Mugabe regime, they
were enjoying the silent acclaim of nation beginning to suffer the consequences
of acute and very poor governance. They braved teargas, the police and
CIO at the campus. We counted on them, students.
For once, we learnt that Mugabe could be confronted head on. We learnt
we could call him names and mock him too. But more importantly, we learnt
we could challenge injustice. In that respect, the UZ became a citadel
of the struggle against repression.
Again it is only fair to say, in that respect, the students opened a new frontier in the struggle for democracy. That culture of confrontation spread throughout the student population in the country, civic society and the opposition.
Jambanja came to characterise phases of our democratic struggle later on, as evidenced by the ZCTU and MDC-induced mass protests.
Of course, Mugabe descended on us/them with the agility of a leopard and the force of a hammer. It is during this era that Mutambara was conspicuously absent, amassing degrees abroad.
Comparatively, Mugabe, with his war credentials, is highly educated too. It has not stopped him unleashing his dogs of war on his opponents with carefree abandon. On the other hand, Mutambara, now a renowned professor, has a history of facing up to such kind of repression; meeting fire with fire.
While Tsvangirai, had surrounded himself with a motley crew of learned persons, he has always been associated with the jambanja side of things only. He has never been regarded as an intellectual himself.
The new entrant, Mutambara, appears to possess both the intellect and capacity for jambanja. For that reason, he is seen as a person who can fight Robert Mugabe, and Zanu PF, at those two levels. In my view, it is the reason he has captured the imagination of a desperate nation.
Nyamutata is
former chief reporter of the banned Daily News and writes from Leicester,
England. He can be contacted on: nyamutata@yahoo.com
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