Dr Tsvangirai's London paper was a great disappointment

Dr Richard Morgan Tsvangirai delivered his paper at Chatham House, London and to say it was a great disappointment would be to put it mildly even for one who had not expected much. For you see, disappointment is like a headache; there is no such thing as "getting used to it" not to feel it!

"It is with a heavy heart that I stand before you while my beloved country is fast decelerating to-wards an inevitable economic implosion, especially after yet another controversial election on July 31, 2013," said Dr Tsvangirai.

He goes on to describe why MDC have described the July 2013 as "a farce and a monumental fraud" but at no time does he ever acknowledge that it was his party's failure to implement the democratic reforms that made it is so easy for Mugabe and Zanu PF to blatantly rig the vote.

Implementing the reforms was, literally, the nation's get out of jail card. MDC had the majority in parliament and cabinet and so they should have had no trouble getting parliamentary approval of reform proposals. If Mugabe, as President was to refuse to sign the proposed reforms into law then, SADC as the guarantors of the GPA would have pressured him to sign. As things happened Mugabe never refused to sign anything because MDC failed to submit even one reform proposal. Not one!

MDC had five years to play the get out of jail card and they did not.

"Such has been our experience with deeply flawed elections that to this day, the courts in Zimba-bwe are still to make a ruling on our court challenge of the disputed Presidential election of 2002," explained Dr Tsvangirai at one point.

If he really understood the true nature of Zimbabwe's flawed judiciary throughout the GNU years then the more reason he would have implemented the judiciary reforms! He and his fellow MDC leaders were warned not to take part in the elections as MDC MP Samuel Sipepa Nkomo has since admitted.

"We failed to secure critical reforms before participating in the elections. The whole world ad-vised us not to get into the elections without reforms, and so in everything that we have been say-ing we have failed to acknowledge that we also made a mistake," MP Nkomo said.

Failing to implement the reforms was more than just "a mistake" it was a monumental blunder and little wonder both SADC and the international community deserted MDC in droves days be-fore the July 2013 elections, as MP Nkomo confirmed.

"If some of those people that advise you not to participate in elections are the same people who assist you, help you financially and then you ignore their advice, then they will simply refuse to assist you again," he said.

The donors took flight and never returned. Besides delivering his paper, Dr Tsvangirai is in UK to raise funds to fill the party's empty coffers.

The way forward was for the country to hold an "unconditional dialogue by a broad section of Zimbabweans to unpack the crisis," said Dr Tsvangirai. No doubt he saw himself as a key player in this.

"I am aware of the complexity of our national situation but rest assured that some of us have cho-sen to take permanent residence in the trenches until democracy is achieved in Zimbabwe," he said.

Lord have mercy! Dr Tsvangirai does not understand what the reforms were about, even with the benefit of hindsight and a year to reflect, he still does not have a clue. And yet he still considers himself leadership material! Worse still, there are thousands of MDC supporters who think so too!

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Wilbert Mukori can be contacted at zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com