Tsvangirai has emerged stronger

With the silencing of the renegades who have masqueraded as the renewal team, it is clear that Morgan Tsvangirai has won this battle and will in due course wrestle the Presidency from one Dictator Robert Mugabe.

It is clear that he still enjoys the support of the people, despite the renewal team's attempts to portray him as someone trying to remain at the helm of the party by force. Thanks to the quick reaction of the organising team and all those who chose to remain loyal to the President, those assumptions were quickly exposed as being untrue.
Ill-conceived focus

The greatest undoing of the renewal team was their ill-conceived focus on assassinating the character of the people's President .That Morgan Tsvangirai‘s brand has survived the onslaught of detractors and enemies of progress is there for everyone to see - as can be witnessed by the failure by a well-oiled Zanu-PF machinery led by the CIO , soldiers and all hardcore elements to destroy him. Attempting to embark on a de-branding exercise by the renewal team was an attempt to chew more than one can swallow.

The level of sacrifice that Tsvangiari has put in and the amount of harassment, intimidation and personal loss he has gone through has cemented his place in the hearts of many Zimbabweans. The continuous vilification by the renewal team has also worked clearly to his advantage as ordinary men and women have failed to find reason to fighting Tsvangirai when the real enemy is and has always been Zanu-PF.

The renewal team has also been heavily undone by its officials who are fronting this campaign as they have shown beyond any doubt that they are not fit for the task. More importantly the arrogance of the rebel's leadership as well as their lack of touch with ordinary issues affecting people has been their greatest undoing.
Love of money

The love of money and corrupt dealings on the part of those who have flocked to the renewal team is well documented. It is in the public domain that they have always been driven by material benefits at the expense of saving the people. The only value the group has brought to the movement is that they have made the President get back to the basics and engage with the real owners of the struggle. Thanks to their ill-fated campaign he has gone on a whirlwind tour of the country, re-energizing the support base and rebuilding confidence in the masses.

He now needs to continue to engage the real owners of the struggle, and keep the momentum going for the final onslaught. The betrayal by the elite members of our struggle should lead to a critical rethink of the need to go back to our founding values. The people's struggle has always been driven by the suffering working class, the poor and the unemployed and it is time that the movement was realigned to those foundations.

Going forward the President has to be decisive, firm and always remind himself that it is not everyone who wishes him well in this fight to remove Robert Mugabe. From those working close to him, those who pamper him with false hope, to those who will pretend to like him only in his presence and to those who are unequivocally clear that they cannot wait to see his back Tsvangirai has to soldier on and deliver the people of Zimbabwe from the suffering and poverty to which the Zanu-PF government has condemned us.

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Lovemore Chinoputsa is an MDC T National Youth Executive Member and writes in his personal capacity.