News / National
Grand Anti Mugabe Coalition dreams and despairs
07 Dec 2016 at 17:03hrs | Views
As 2018 gets closer and closer there are plans and strategies being sought to democratically change Zimbabwe's political and economic current state of affairs. ZanuPf politically torn by internal squabbles is at a very weak point. The differences in the violent and dictatorial party are deliberately cultivated because it is clear that ZanuPf is not under any political threat.
The steady and certain political evaporation of the once mighty post-independence opposition led by Morgan Tswangirai has resulted in many even supporters resorting to saying that "change can only come from within ZanuPf itself". We now hear of rumours that some Western Governments are engaging the regime. We also hear of donor fatigue as the opposition party has become less and less effective even to a point of being almost irrelevant.
In an attempt to rekindle the effectiveness of political opposition and assure a victory over ZanuPF some people have been calling for a united front by all opposition groupings. This has not materialised. Tswangirai and his party have not been keen to just join the coalition. Expelled former ZanuPf Vice President Joyce has even argued that "there are ZanuPf proxies" in the so called coalition. These two believe that they have support from the masses. They believe that they can even dislodge ZanuPf as individual parties. They refuse to carry other parties on their back denying themselves the joys of a possible victory after defeating ZanuPF in a free and fair election.
Tswangirai can still address crowds countrywide although numbers have now significantly dwindled . Mujuru has been addressing some hundreds here and there in some parts of the country but not everywhere. As for the coalition signatories the truth is that some only exist on paper. Only Biti's party can pull at least a crowd but they were beaten by the "unpopular and hated Zanupf" in Nkulumane in a by election. The MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube got severely crippled when some of its influential members resigned after endless squabbles. Recently it has been reported that ZAPU expelled its entire Bulawayo Provincial Executive because of incompetency. Since his jumping off from the ZanuPF train Dr. Dabengwa has been firing Bulawayo Provincial leaders at every turn. These two put together, that is MDC led by Ncube and ZAPU pose no threat to any party. They can hardly pull any crowd anywhere in the country beyond 2000! Dr. Simba Makoni can hardly have even a 100! Zimbabweans will be telling the truth if they say that they know nothing about the rest of the other political groupings that went all the way to Cape Town to sign a paper on "a coalition".
One cannot therefore rule out the fact that even a coalition of all the opposition can dismally loose to ZanuPF. These parties that have failed to accommodate their own members expelling them willy nilly or just frustrating them out will never ever cooperate with members of other political parties. The coalition looks like a joke. Maybe not, it is a genuine attempt to get funds! From whom and for what purpose? The electorate knows that the NGO type of political parties have no solution to their plight.
And if it is just for money, then Tswangirai is justified to want to go it alone because he can still be in the opposition and get some money as his party is already doing so now. Sadly though, the masses are suffering. As Zimbabweans we now have a number of obstacles to overcome even before we massively engage ZanuPF and the latest one is this obvious quest for donor funding of our own efforts to dislodge ZanuPF. Do these funders of a coalition project share the political aspirations of all the parties involved? As a people we are desperate surely but this despair must not lead us to go against our own perceived goal.
Perhaps the solution lies in the very much opposed concept of a "big brother" in a coalition. It is indeed imperative that all the genuine opponents of Mugabe's regime unite but it should not be a demand that someone should abandon his present status and sacrifice his potential. The late Joshua Nkomo did it and we all know the results. Over 20000 of his supporters perished and worse his dream of a Zimbabwe for all Zimbabweans were shattered. Let the strong ones come with their strength and those with a potential be allowed to bring it to fruition.
The steady and certain political evaporation of the once mighty post-independence opposition led by Morgan Tswangirai has resulted in many even supporters resorting to saying that "change can only come from within ZanuPf itself". We now hear of rumours that some Western Governments are engaging the regime. We also hear of donor fatigue as the opposition party has become less and less effective even to a point of being almost irrelevant.
In an attempt to rekindle the effectiveness of political opposition and assure a victory over ZanuPF some people have been calling for a united front by all opposition groupings. This has not materialised. Tswangirai and his party have not been keen to just join the coalition. Expelled former ZanuPf Vice President Joyce has even argued that "there are ZanuPf proxies" in the so called coalition. These two believe that they have support from the masses. They believe that they can even dislodge ZanuPf as individual parties. They refuse to carry other parties on their back denying themselves the joys of a possible victory after defeating ZanuPF in a free and fair election.
Tswangirai can still address crowds countrywide although numbers have now significantly dwindled . Mujuru has been addressing some hundreds here and there in some parts of the country but not everywhere. As for the coalition signatories the truth is that some only exist on paper. Only Biti's party can pull at least a crowd but they were beaten by the "unpopular and hated Zanupf" in Nkulumane in a by election. The MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube got severely crippled when some of its influential members resigned after endless squabbles. Recently it has been reported that ZAPU expelled its entire Bulawayo Provincial Executive because of incompetency. Since his jumping off from the ZanuPF train Dr. Dabengwa has been firing Bulawayo Provincial leaders at every turn. These two put together, that is MDC led by Ncube and ZAPU pose no threat to any party. They can hardly pull any crowd anywhere in the country beyond 2000! Dr. Simba Makoni can hardly have even a 100! Zimbabweans will be telling the truth if they say that they know nothing about the rest of the other political groupings that went all the way to Cape Town to sign a paper on "a coalition".
One cannot therefore rule out the fact that even a coalition of all the opposition can dismally loose to ZanuPF. These parties that have failed to accommodate their own members expelling them willy nilly or just frustrating them out will never ever cooperate with members of other political parties. The coalition looks like a joke. Maybe not, it is a genuine attempt to get funds! From whom and for what purpose? The electorate knows that the NGO type of political parties have no solution to their plight.
And if it is just for money, then Tswangirai is justified to want to go it alone because he can still be in the opposition and get some money as his party is already doing so now. Sadly though, the masses are suffering. As Zimbabweans we now have a number of obstacles to overcome even before we massively engage ZanuPF and the latest one is this obvious quest for donor funding of our own efforts to dislodge ZanuPF. Do these funders of a coalition project share the political aspirations of all the parties involved? As a people we are desperate surely but this despair must not lead us to go against our own perceived goal.
Perhaps the solution lies in the very much opposed concept of a "big brother" in a coalition. It is indeed imperative that all the genuine opponents of Mugabe's regime unite but it should not be a demand that someone should abandon his present status and sacrifice his potential. The late Joshua Nkomo did it and we all know the results. Over 20000 of his supporters perished and worse his dream of a Zimbabwe for all Zimbabweans were shattered. Let the strong ones come with their strength and those with a potential be allowed to bring it to fruition.
Source - Ian Ndaba
