'Tsvangirai political stardom gone'

A Zimbabwean based in the United States have said opportunities for greatness come only once and the  Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai missed his opportunity in 2008 when he won the elections but ran away to Botswana.

Ken Mufuka said in his Letter from America that it is now the end of the road for Tsvangirai.

He said his former Secretary General Tendai Biti "may tarry for a while, but he too has come to the end of his road.

Last week, the media published results of a survey conducted by the Mass Public Opinion Institute which showed that President Robert Mugabe's popularity had surged.

The MDC-T has disputed the poll and insists it is still the most popular party in the country but some of its supporters are saying that the party must take note of the survey's results.

The party, which won one more seat in the 2008 parliamentary elections than ZANU-PF, lost more than half of the seats in the 2013 elections but has attributed its loss to rigging.

While accepting that ZANU-PF might have cheated, Mufuka says: "The first rule of politics is that there are no rules. Cheating is permissible to the extent that the cheater must not be reckless as to endanger the prize, which is power. For this reason, all politicians employ surrogates, who cheat for them."