Why Tsvangirai and Hichilema will never taste state house

Honestly this is a strong analysis on why both characters have been serial losers in their own countries. They were given the opportunity long back and they missed because they were dining with the enemy. As we speak Tsvangirai should be the president in Zimbabwe and Hichilema should be the president in Zambia but alas these are just sitting in the terraces. They lack strategy and they are very emotional when it comes to loosing elections. One mistake is they are digging their own graves politically, they think going to jail will make them popular yet people have different judgements. For Tsvangirai he is a better a seasoned guy than Hichilema, Hichilema is now finished politically.

Serial Losers

Honestly it's now boring for the electorate to keep seeing Tsvangirai and Hichilema on ballot papers, their time has passed its high time, their political parties should convey conventions urgently and elect new leaders. From my own experience as a political analyst if that is the case then these two parties will emerge victorious in their respective countries, but for now I can tell you no opposition in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Hichilema has been losing elections since Mwanawasa's time and Tsvangirai has been losing election since 2000 because of silly mistakes and his opponents took advantage of those mistakes. Honestly who can vote for someone who has been losing elections five times, these guys have done their best and I think they should pass the baton to others for the sake of smooth transition.

Treason Cases Will Not Make You Go to State House

As the case with Tsvangirai he faced treason charges way back in 2000 but that did not make him go to state house. People should stop fooling themselves. That is why Zimbabweans were fooled by baba va jukwa in the run up to 2013 elections and most of them didn't go to vote thinking Tsvangirai had won elections. These are wrong assumptions to think that Hichilema will go to state house because he was charged with treason. The issue of going to state house is totally different from being incarcerated in cells. Winning an election needs intellectual capacity not these fake prophecies coming from Guy Scot and others. In fact Hichilema ‘s association with the likes of Scot has damaged his reputation, in fact he is so desperate to be in state house, now that his chance has passed, he is now behaving like an animal or a criminal, obvious for security reasons, the state has no option except to cage him for a while. He thought Lungu was so weak that he could not cage him, in fact if he is not careful he will spend another year in prison or so.

Missed Opportunity

Tsvangirai was given the opportunity to walk to state house in 2008, given that he won the election by 78% margin what made him flee to Botswana instead of mobilizing people to walk to state house or to refuse to enter into a run off? This was a great mistake I tell you. Whoever advised him to flee to Botswana made a very big blunder for the whole nation, we are in this situation because of that decision. No one was going to kill Tsvangirai had he walked to state house because it was his democratic right to do that. As for Hichilema it was a bit different. Hakainde Hichilema was supposed to win in 2015, and he missed the opportunity. In fact Hichilema supported Edgar Lungu to stand in 2015 thinking that he can easily defeat him not knowing that he was digging his own grave. In fact had Miles Sampa stood in 2015, Hichilema would have been the president by now. Hichilema made wrong calculations, he thought it was easy to defeat Lungu. Those wrong judgements have made them to be where they are today. They lack proper political judgements and whoever is advising them is not doing a good job because they are sinking politically.

Cry Babies

Both of them Tsvangirai and Hichilema are known for crying over spilled milk. Honestly someone is still talking of election petition in Zambia when constitutionally Edgar Lungu was sworn in before judges, heads of state and other constitutional bodies in the world and then who can reverse that? Hichilema was given two weeks to submit evidence and his election petition was thrown out because it lacked merit. In all the constituencies their election agents were present so what happened? The Africa union, SADC, EU, Common wealth and all the diplomats accredited to Zambia they endorsed the elections as free and fair so who is Hichilema in that scenario? Just because he was not declared the winner, then he should be heard? That's a very bad political move. In fact from the petition time up to now Hichilema has lost a quite a significant number of supporters because of silly political decisions. Hichilema should begin to mature politically and start to make strong political decisions. We told Tsvangirai in 2013 that the ground was not level for a free and fair election but alas he was very confident of winning the election and he was nikuved, and we saw Tsvangirai making countrywide trips telling his supporters not to accept defeat, but who listened to that? No one everyone respected the institution of the office of the president that is RG Mugabe period.

Elections Are Not Won in Court

The problem with these two fellas is that they want to cover their mistakes by blaming rigging and irregularities instead of blaming themselves. In fact Tsvangirai and Hichilema should meet and exchange notes on their mistakes if they are genuine to their supporters. We have no doubt that the two can pull huge crowds but their supporters do not go to vote that is their problem. Whoever told them that by now they will be in state house made a very big mistake? For you to be in state house you have to work hard for that office. You don't win elections in court but you must have grass roots connectivity and you should make sure that all your supporters are registered and people are on the ground working, campaigning.

Huge Crowds and Voting Is Different

Both Tsvangirai and Hichilema can pull big crowds. They have a talent in pulling crowds but lack strategy of winning an election. Hichilema was supposed to have copied something from Michael Sata, Sata was very intelligent, he knew everything that happened in state house on daily basis and he had infiltrated all state institutions, and he had the intellectual capacity and that is what makes someone win an election. Crowds and ballot issues and counting and announcing is totally different. There are five areas which people should analyse here

- Huge crowds

- Election message

- Ballot issue

- Announcing of results

- Going to state house

Don't assume that when you pull crowds then you are assured of victory no no, you have to go an extra mile to register victory.

Failed to Produce Rigging Evidence

I've been analysing the two gentlemen and I saw that honestly we are not going anywhere. They wait for courts which is very unfair to supporters and those who will be campaigning for them. I remember in 2013 when Tsvangirai lost the election or even in 2008 he failed to produce evidence how he won the election. People were very disappointed. By losing senior cadres like Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai is heading for worse times. Biti was very instrumental in winning 2008 elections. If I were Tsvangirai he should be now wowed Biti back into the main structures and begin to work with him. The problem with these politicians they do not want to forgive and bury the past. Hichilema was busy making funnies in court during the 14 day period and nothing was produced and he gathered a bunch of lawyers which failed to yield results. He had over 21 lawyers in court and what happened? Nothing. You don't win election in courts, once you hear the final whistle its game over, go back to the drawing board and begin to make preparations for 2021. Tsvangirai should be clam and stop dictatorial tendencies and begin to talk to the likes of Biti's, Mangoma and others who left mdc long back.

Moral Values

Both characters have a weakness in women. People respect morality in the office of the presidency. If you cannot control yourself then you are bound to loose what you want. We have heard all sorts of stories about Hichilema with women and the same with Tsvangirai. Most of those women who were around Tsvangirai and almost of all them they have left him because they have accomplished their mission. Morgan made a very big mistake of dining with the enemy. His political opponents used women to bring him down. Zanu Pf knows everything about Tsvangirai because of those women who were hanging around Morgan. Tsvangirai should have married someone from his own party but alas he chose to cross the floor and he are the results for him to see. All those women were gold diggers who were after him for money and information when they saw that Morgan is broke they ran away from him. The electorate is very cautious on moral issues, religious issues and they pay much attention to that. If you want to assume office of presidency you should start to practise good moral values. Hichilema boycotted all prayer programmes and he thought he made it not knowing that he gave his enemies a way to attack him and DE campaign him. Remember both Zambia and Zimbabwe are Christian nations.

Both Parties Have Been Infiltrated

If I'm not mistaken both MDC and UPND have been infiltrated at their highest levels because of wrong political moves. Hichilema made a very big mistake of putting GBM, a former defence minister. Does Hichilema know what it means when you talk of someone who was holding a security portfolio before? GBM came to UPND to spy and nothing else. Lungu and GBM are just the same and he is on the mission to destroy Hichilema and UPND. He should have seen it long back, Lungu was a friend to GBM and both, and they held the defence portfolio and both were favoured by former late president Sata. UPND is already a weak party and it will be very difficult for HH to make crucial decisions because his highest party organ is already infiltrated. Coming closer home, as for Tsvangirai there is no more opposition to talk about because even his close lieutenants have questionable credentials. Most of them since they joined the Government of National Unity, they have questionable wealthy and they have amassed wealthy in dubious ways and my question is then why is not Mugabe arresting them? That's a very big homework for yourself. Find out for yourself.

Political Blunders

Hichilema made a very wrong decision to call Lungu a hyena. That was a very wrong move. In fact he has already made Lungu popular. They are those people who didn't like Edgar, now they will begin to like him. As for the treason issue, it's HH who was wrong. My first question why would HH force himself to that programme in Litunga. Why did HH go there? Whoever advised him to go there was very wrong, because for obvious reasons that was going to be a trap for him. The intelligence guys from Lungu's office studied HH long back and in fact HH ‘S security team has long been infiltrated if you look at the unfolding of events you would find out that Lungu knew exactly all the move for HH. Many people think it was the other way round, but alas no its Lungu who knows HH's moves and his whereabouts. Lungu knows HH's weaknesses and he took advantage of that. Why did HH force himself to the top table, was it necessary for him to be at the top table? Will that make him popular? Why did he force himself to be seen by everyone? HH is a young boy and he wants to be seen by everyone that he is around, he needs to mature in politics. Why did carry himself with that big entourage? For what reason? What was those 60 vehicles? For what? Okay fine let's pause why did HH refused to stop along Mongu road? Why didn't he pave way for Lungu? Was that going to make him go to state house? In fact he has de campaigned himself. That was a political blunder. If HH wants to be in state house he should learn to respect the office of the president itself, despite that it is occupied by someone whom he has disputes with. In fact he was luck had it been countries like Zimbabwe we would be talking of something else. He is in prison now, everyone is mocking him and he already has criminal record on him which will bar him from ascending to presidency. As for Tsvangirai he made a lot of blunders which I think if he quickly correct them he stand a chance

- Occupying highlands mansion

- Appointing two vice presidents instead of one, moreover someone who lost at congress

- Marrying women from his political opponents

- Double dipping

- Dining with the enemy

- Avoiding electoral reforms whilst they had the capacity

- Failure to account for election resource in previous elections

- Lacking proper election strategy

- Weak advisors

- Listening to the last person

- Lack rural support base

Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo is a development analyst and he holds a Masters in Development studies from University of Lusaka Zambia. He heads Mentorship Institute of National Development and Sustainability (MINDS) which is responsible for policy research and analysis. He can be contacted at greatorminds@gmail.com