MDC no longer an alternative

MDC no longer an alternative

• Patrick Mlambo: Tsvangirai has lost plot

• Nyathi hits back at Tsvangirai bribery claims

• Bekithemba Mhlanga: Tsvangirai fell for Zanu PF bait

• Alex Magaisa: Handling a fledging democracy

• Elliot Pfebve: Tsvangirai and Mugabe, larvae and butterfly scenario

• MDC moves to impeach Tsvangirai

• Gibson Sibanda: Tsvangirai in breach of constitution

• Tsvangirai accuses officials of vote-buying

• Itai Zimunya: MDC split good for Zimbabwe

• Tsvangirai bid to heal rifts

• Chenjerai Hove: The MDC and a very Zimbabwean disease

• Tsvangirai must 'come to terms' - Nyathi

• Msekiwa Makwanya: Tsvangirai, lessons in democratic process

• Heads must roll

• MDC splits widen after senate vote

• Tsvangirai: We are out

• Nyathi: We are in

• MDC to boycott senate - Tsvangirai

• Melusi Nyathi: MDC must reconnect with people

• Mugabe sets November 26 Senate poll date

• Tsvangirai plays down rift with Ncube

• Oscar Nkala: MDC should snub senate

• Mugabe calls senate poll for November, MDC undecided

• Msekiwa Makwanya: the MDC, the senate and boycott politics

• Morgan Tsvangirai: The senate, what's in it for the people?

• Grace Kwinjeh: No to senate elections!

• Kwinjeh attacks MDC senate poll participation

• MDC to contest for senate seats

• Prof Jonathan Moyo: New amendments should face battle royal

• New constitutional moves 'will not fly'

• Chinamasa slammed over 'exit visa' threat

• Innocent C Sithole: The MDC and culture of prevarication

• MDC wants to give senate a miss

• Prof Welshman Ncube: Constitutional reforms recipe for disaster

• Zim denies plot to curtail critics' travel

• Dr Alex Magaisa: Constitution without Constitutionalism

• Lucas Nkomo: The right to revolt against tyranny

• Tawanda Hove: Constitutional reforms and MDC mess

• US says Zim moves 'a sad step backwards'

• Rights groups condemn constitutional moves

• Paul Themba Nyathi: Dark day for democracy

• Parliament passes amendment bill

• Prof Jonathan Moyo: Constitutional madness will not save Zanu PF

• MDC ambush Zanu PF with draft constitution

• Zim tables bill to amend constitution

• Lawyers condemn constitutional amendment

• Aspiring Zanu PF senator dies of poisoning

• Alex Magaisa: Constitutional amendment spells doom for economy

• Chinamasa admits Zanu PF has no two thirds

• Zimbabwe senate will last only 5 years

By Brilliant Mhlanga

THE internal squabbles in the Movement for Democratic Change should also be viewed as a telling logical pointer that something big is happening in the political house. They definitely serve as both a warning device and a safety valve.

Warning device in the sense that if there is some semblance of sanity for those who care, then a speedy recovery method must be engaged to save the party from final collapse. Then a safety valve; in that this serves to show the entire nation the calibre of people they had entrusted their hopes, wishes and aspirations for the past six years.

It is time that the nation should seek to understand the rigours of opposition politics in Zimbabwe. Imagine we have always snapped at stories from the not so trustworthy state media that MDC is in a serious state of political crisis. These differences were bound to come out considering the ideological deficiencies of the party. In fact, it is not surprising to note that the opposition has always failed to handle some political dilemma created by the ruling party.

MDC has always acted as a clueless group of political reactionaries. The party seems to be focused on fulfilling their eternal role of being the opposition party and not seeking to unseat the ruling party someday. This is the reason why each time the ruling party coughs they argue and clash on where the sound came from. This unnecessary tendency obviously developed and nurtured in the past years has brought in a lot of problems for the opposition. This is also coupled by the character and intellectual ineptitude of the person of the president, Morgan Tsvangirai. He is one of the courageous figures Zimbabwe has ever had, but very irrational, unsophisticated and unwise in almost all his statements. His decisions obviously informed by this immaculate mind which lacks political sophistry are always weak. He claims to be an advocate of democracy and always remains the last to clamour for the use of his powers. I have not worked so close with this man, but some colleagues in the struggle who have worked with him often point at his dictatorial tendencies and lack strategy. He is too simple to fight Zanu PF.

This is my advice for Tsvangirai:

Mr President the crisis you are in has been caused by Zanu PF, and so when dealing with it, be mindful of the fact that you are still in opposition and your ultimate goal is to unseat the ruling party, not to unseat each other.

What is happening to you and the broader MDC is the hidden, intended agenda set for you by the ruling party.

Much as they might not have calculated that you will have to fight as part of their equation, you are now helping them achieve the intended objectives. What you are doing is like trying to force onto the body of a huge and completely disfigured person a dress made to fit the slim, defleshed model. But instead of blaming the tiny dress or its designer you decide to fault the huge body or the shop for parading the wrong sizes. You should put to test the experience and expertise of the designer of this senatorial dress and focus your energies wisely than firing all your missiles to people you have been working with for years.

If truth is to be told, the statement you made accusing colleagues of vote buying smacks of serious hypocrisy. Does this imply that you only came to notice their mischievous acts of rigging recently? If, Mr President, you have just noticed this bad habit, then this shows serious naivety on your part as the head and someone who nearly became the head of state in the recent past. It means they were definitely going to plunge Zimbabwe into another serious crisis, bureaucratic and political corruption and malfeasance in public office.

These accusations of rigging are a pointer of the propensity that has either been lying low or was being used in the past only focused on Zanu PF, but failed due the latter's advanced rigging tactics. Mr Tsvangirai is not helping any situation by claiming that his colleagues rigged the elections. Instead he is confirming his leadership style which is ineffective and thoroughly wanting. His behaviour is like that of a foolishly arrogant undertaker who would rather trim a corpse than expand his/her coffin to accommodate a man-mountain, or a carpenter whose only tool is a hammer, and to whom every luxuriating problem is seen as a nail. This is the worst way of attending to in-house squabbles.

However, as some colleagues in the struggle would observe, it is necessary to have these problems. I would add that these problems serve to show the calibre of people most of us had entrusted with this leadership mantle. Weak, unwise and clearly wanting in all spheres of political analysis! Zimbabwe has to live beyond this Mugabe senate nonsense. After all, we don’t have guarantees that it might continue in the event that there is a new government in future. I am not therefore suggesting that people should forget about it, but observing that much as we seek to find ways of handling it, we must never forget that our ultimate goal is a better Zimbabwe. It is obvious that most people in the MDC are eying these positions, much as it might be possible to further speculate that Mr Tsvangirai is flatly refuting all efforts aimed at participating because he has a score to settle with some individuals in the echelons of the party.

These MDC leaders with their Zanu PF thuggish mentality must know that the whole nation is watching. We are also aware of their serious gangster tendencies. Remember, what they did to Raymond Majongwe after that telling debate, when he prophesied that Tsvangirai will never live at State-house? Did they not attack him afterwards? Did they not beat some youths for participating in the Tsholotsho campaign? Who then is a democrat in the MDC? The President is definitely not.

Following his scathing attack on his colleagues led by Professor Welshman Ncube, it means their democracy gauge is low. This means that the MDC is therefore a polished Zanu PF, considering that they all claim to detest tactics often employed by the ruling party.

Mr Tsvangirai must not attempt to fool the nation into believing that the other clique is evil today. They have always worked together. Accusations of vote buying are symptoms of bigger things happening in the party. To all caring Zimbabweans, the ultimate goal is a better Zimbabwe and not this MDC madness. This is surely a sign for the need for a much better alternative.

Brilliant Mhlanga is a former university student leader and a human rights activist. He can be reached at: bsigabadem@yahoo.co.uk
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