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Move over Morgan, you had your chance
By
Tendai
Serima
THEY
say history repeats itself. This means in order to understand the future
of our own country we need to take a look at the past.
Let’s move back a few steps to take a look at a shadow, the reality of which is unfolding before our own eyes. Remember Moses started the struggle that led Israel out of Egypt, but it is Joshua who took them to the Promised land. It is Nkomo who fathered Zapu, but it is Mugabe who became Prime Minister. Even more still, it is Sithole who led the revolt against Nkomo and formed Zanu, but it is Mugabe who became President. History is very stubborn and has this tendency to repeat itself. History says no founding President of a party can become President of our country. To understand this theory, we need to go back a few thousand years.
For 40 days King Saul and the whole army of Israel were intimidated by a giant called Goliath. Goliath, who stood almost 10 feet tall, defied the armies of Israel, making them look cowardly and foolish. For 40 days they tried but failed to defeat him. Goliath, who is described as a "champion" in the Biblical text, positioned himself between the two armies and challenged the Israelites to send out a warrior to challenge him. If that man won, the Philistines would become the subjects of Saul's army. If Goliath won, the converse would occur. For 40 days, Goliath issued his challenge, but no man would dare him.
Meanwhile young David was busy looking after his father’s sheep. He fought and won many battles in the wilderness, against lions and bears. Nobody knew about these victories since they were not in the battle front and away from the public eye. Most importantly, these battles were seemingly unrelated to the real battle against Goliath in which King Saul and the army of Israel, including David’s four brothers were engaged.
One day David decided to go to the battle front to see how his brothers were doing, and to bring some “bread and grain”. He saw Goliath and he remembered how he had fought and won against the bear and the lion. He knew his time had come. He asked King Saul for a chance to have a go at Goliath. What? After leading Israel through so many battles and recording so many victories? After being intimidated by this giant for 40 days and trying my best to bring him down, a little boy is now asking me to stand aside so that he can take a chance? This was ridiculous to King Saul. After all Saul was the tallest and the largest in the army of Israel, and therefore he was the only one who could stand a chance against this champion called Goliath. But a little boy called David wanted to take his chance.
Since no other soldier was willing to fight the giant Goliath, King Saul reluctantly agreed to allow David to fight the giant. King Saul took off his heavy iron coat and gave it to David (his clothing, the armour). David put it on, jumped around and realised that it was too heavy for him. David rejected the king's offer of armor and a sword and went out to fight Goliath with a sling shot and five smooth stones. He knew that to defeat Goliath he needed something different, not just an imitation of what Goliath already had. With the first stone Goliath was dead.
The situation in this story is analogous to the current situation in Zimbabwe. King Saul (Tsvangirai) has been fighting Goliath for the past six years. However this giant called Goliath has managed to survive using intimidatory tactics. Suddenly a young boy called Arthur (David) has arrived on the seen. He has just been shepherding his father’s sheep in the diaspora, from where he has been sending “grain and bread” to his brothers in the battle field. Whatever he has been doing seems to be unrelated to the battle against Goliath in which his brothers have been bruised and battered. The question now is: will King Saul stand aside and give David a chance? Will King Saul offer his armour to David? Does David have the shepherd’s armour and a sling with which to attack Goliath? Saul looked at Goliath as too big to hit, hence he was intimidated for 40days, but David looked at the same Goliath as too big to miss. The difference between the success and failure of the two men was in how they interpreted the sheer size of Goliath. To one he was too big to hit, to the other too big to miss.
In my view Tsvangirai was the only giant in the MDC who could stand a chance against Goliath (Mugabe). However a new boy has arrived and he deserves a chance. He is a “mighty man of valour” who should not be underestimated by reason of his age, or the fact that he has been in the diaspora. Tsvangirai and company have been fighting this beast for so long that they have started to imitate the same monster that they are trying to remove. Dictatorial tendencies have begun to show up, and the “handiende syndrome” or the “founder member” disease, synonymous with Zanu(PF) is beginning to unveil itself. According to the MDC constitution Tsvangirai has only one more Presidential term left and it is now almost certain that he might try to change the constitution to prolong his stay at the MDC realm. His plan of attack is now to boycott certain elections, while participating in others, and to pursue an unnamed form of” democratic resistance”, meanwhile causing a lot of confusion with his indecision and lack of clarity in the process. Clearly his bag of ideas is now running on empty.
Tsvangirai and his lieutenants are breathing fire about the fact that an “outsider” is trying to become MDC President when he is not a founder member, exactly the same way that Zanu(PF) brags about, and hero worships its founder members. Often President Mugabe (Goliath) has emphasised that his successor must have a history of the liberation struggle, exactly the same way the MDC is going on about those who have been fighting the dictatorship in the last six years. What then can you say to our army commanders when they say that they can not allow anyone who did not go to war to be President in our country? We have no moral ground to oppose them. They are simply applying the founder member politics that you are applying in your own party. He who digs a pit for others will fall in it. Sadly this is a “Zanunification” of the opposition, to quote Brian Kagoro.
On the other hand we have the boy Arthur with the proverbial sling shot (a bag of new ideologies and enthusiasm). David said to King Saul, the weapons you have given me are good, but they are not mine; I will fight in my own way with a couple of stones and a sling. If we look at Mutambara’s presidential acceptance speech with an open mind, we will see a solid foundation on which a new democratic dispensation can be built. He has heard the taunts of Goliath and he is outraged and indignant. It is not the proud and boastful indignation of youth or student activism, but righteous indignation at the insult to democracy and at the reproach on our nation. His approach is different from the all too familiar opposition rhetoric in Zimbabwe. His ideologies represent a reformation and reinvention of opposition politics and ideologies, not only in Zimbabwe but across Africa. It is a paradigm shift that has put Zanu(PF) at sixes and sevens, and sent back to the drawing board to try and develop a new propaganda because the anti-Blair philosophy has suddenly become redundant and outdated.
In the Biblical story, in consequence of this feat, David is received into Saul's family, but Saul becomes jealous of the young conqueror's popularity when the people started singing: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." It is at this stage that the downfall of Saul begins. He looses focus and begins to see David as an enemy and a threat instead of a partner and a fellow warrior in the struggle. I hope this does not happen to our Morgan. I hope he can continue to resist the temptation to fight young Arthur. I hope they continue to look at each other as comrades in arms.
It is on record that the fall of King Saul was not because of David, but his own making. Saul failed for two reasons: first he became jealous of David, and secondly he consulted a witchdoctor (kitchen cabinet) instead of consulting the prophets of God (elected officials). Thirdly he decided to offer sacrifices to God on his own instead of submitting himself to the appointed Priests (Submitting to the party constitution and to the democratic vote is more important than emotional sacrifices). “Obedience is better than sacrifice”, and hence King Saul (Morgan) was the author of his own downfall.
On the other hand David succeeded because of three things: Firstly he had the courage to face Goliath head-on, and secondly he used an original weapon and armour (new party ideologies). Thirdly, and most importantly, David knew who the real enemy was and refused to be drawn into a fight against King Saul. It was Saul who pursued and tried to kill David. Even when a chance to kill Saul presented itself, David said “I will not touch the anointed one of God”. This is an attribute we have already seen in King Arthur. In his acceptance speech he started by praising Tsvangirai as a “Zimbabwean hero”. This could have been a wonderful opportunity to join his colleagues in a mud slinging match against Tsvangirai, but Mutambara decided not to “touch the anointed one of God”. He knew who the real enemy was, and could not be disrupted into fighting a senior comrade. By doing this he was already laying the foundation for success.
I write this prophetically, and as a man under authority, in the hope that both Arthur and Morgan can learn something from it, and therefore liberate Zimbabwe from its Goliath. I said in the beginning that Moses led Israel out of bondage in Egypt, but it is young Joshua who enjoyed the fruits of the Promised Land. Sithole was the founding President of Zanu, but it is Mugabe who enjoyed the fruits of the liberation struggle. No founding President of a party can become President of our country. I think it is about time, we gave David a chance. It is about time we gave Joshua a chance, it is time we gave Arthur a chance to take us to the Promised Land.
Tendai Serima
is an analyst and he writes from New Zealand. He can be contacted on:
Wicky.Moffat@chh.co.nz
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