Democracy long dead in MDC-T

Movement for Democratic Change. The name denotes a paradigm shift towards democracy and in 1999 it brought with it a profusion of excitement.

Staggering under the heavy weight of high expectation and an economy facing challenges whose origins I shall not explore at this juncture, as they have been over-analysed, the people of Zimbabwe turned to the new political party, MDC-T, as a plant turns to sunshine.

Most believed that as the name suggests, the party stood for unadulterated democracy and a fresh input into the Zimbabwean political scene.

And for a while, this myth held as firebrand public speakers from the party took the country by storm, promising democracy, milk and honey if they got into power.

However, some sixth sense must have held the populace back from fully trusting these honeyed promises of paradise and time and time again, MDC-T failed to get into power, more importantly, its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, failed to become president of the republic of Zimbabwe.

The July 31 elections, where MDC-T suffered heavy losses as people got tired of their hate-inspired mantra, proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back and all pretence of democracy within the party has since been thrown out of the window.

As it stands, it's all systems go, all teeth bared ,Luis Suarez-like as Morgan Tsvangirai is locked in a bitter war with a breakaway faction of "born again" democrats going by the tag of the Renewal Team.

As he fights for political survival, Tsvangirai has destroyed whatever semblance of democracy was left in the party and he is daily exposing himself as a dictator- a sin he was fond of accusing his rival, President Robert Mugabe, of.

Democracy, as contained in the dictionary, refers to an organization or situation in which everyone is treated equally and has equal rights.

Events in the party have since revealed that some people (those in Tsvangirai's camp) are more equal than others.

Elton Mangoma tried to table his concerns; he was thoroughly thumped and suspended along with everyone else who has dared side with him.

The situation now obtaining in the MDC-T is that it's either you are for Tsvangirai or you are the enemy.

Tsvangirai has also poisoned his lieutenants, or perhaps I am giving them undue credit and they were already poisonous themselves, anyway, they are now so warped in their thinking that they see nothing wrong in Tsvangirai refusing to step down until he has tasted the luxury of State House despite his glaring failures as a leader.

It made for sad reading, an article that proudly declared "Tsvangirai to continue ruling MDC-T until 2042"

According to the article, "Any delays by virtue of election failure will extend his tenure by an extra 10 years; Tsvangirai will remain party leader for a few more years. Were he to fail to replace Mugabe, he would still remain as party head until the next presidential election." Senior MDC-T officials were quoted in the article.

The same article cited a statement by National Organising Secretary, Nelson Chamisa, who in 2011 officially revealed that the party would only begin counting Tsvangirai's tenure after he has entered government as Head of State.

"Once president Tsvangirai gets into government, we then start counting – But in government, not in the party."

Not to be outdone by other Tsvangirai praise singers, Theresa Makone is also said to have declared that Tsvangirai is performing well and there was no need to replace him. I wonder how a leader of an opposition party who has failed to win even a single seat- not even in his home area- in the 15 years he has been in power, can be said to be performing well.

Perhaps Makone has knowledge of other areas where Tsvangirai performs well that we, the general public, are not privy to.

Are these the same people who claimed to be a party of open-minded people who embraced diverse views and acted according to the wishes of the masses?

They forget that they are the same people who went to town accusing President Mugabe of being in power for too long (ignoring the fact that he was elected).

 If Morgan Tsvangirai can refuse to step down now, when he is just an opposition leader, I shudder to imagine how he would behave if he were ever to be president of the country!

So in essence, if Tsvangirai fails to get to State House because of his own folly and that of the yes-men who surround him, we are stuck with him till the Lord deems it fit to call him home?

Inorder to firmly entrench himself as the Alpha and Omega of the MDC-T, Tsvangirai and his cronies are said to be frantically laying the groundwork to skew the party's constitution in their favour.

According to reliable sources, major changes are to be made to MDC-T'S Constitution.

After the amendments, the post of Secretary General will be weakened to prevent further challenges. This came about after past SG's in the form of Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti proved to be a thorn in Tsvangirai's dictatorial grip on the party's leadership after they dared question his failings.

Under democratic conditions, an organisation's constitution is amended at the behest of the majority and for the betterment of all the members not to suit the whims of an individual, as Tsvangirai wants to do.

What is also evident even at this early stage is that the October congress will not be a platform for free election of people into positions of power but a gathering of sycophants to endorse Tsvangirai's dictates.

Rumours abound that Tsvangirai will not be contested at the congress. What a sham!

Indeed, if they wanted to hold a democratic congress, then the disgruntled Renewal faction would be allowed to take part.

Instead, the Renewal team is not welcome at the October congress and is set to hold a separate one in March next year. Democracy indeed!

Also of interest is that Tsvangirai dismissed the Mandel meeting that suspended him as "nonsense". Organising secretary, Nelson Chamisa, said then: "This is utter nonsense. They have actually formed a party not that they have suspended us." How can one claim to be divorcing a partner whom he or she had already been divorced from many years ago? It's a nullity to us and it means nothing."

Surprisingly, although in keeping with his generally confused state, Tsvangirai has made a U-turn and approached the High Court seeking an order to overturn the national council resolution that stripped him of his powers along with six other party leaders. Why seek to nullify something that he dismissed as not applying to him in the first place?

It means that deep in his heart, or perhaps when he is alone in bed at night, far from Elizabeth's demands, Tsvangirai really knows that the renewal cause was done in compliance with the party's constitution.

Given the manner in which conflict is being handled in the party, it would only be prudent to drop the "Democratic" from the party's name.

Movement for Dictatorial Change, perhaps?