Tsvangirai must accept defeat

It is almost a year since the July 2013 election results were announced. In that election, the ruling party ZANU-PF won the election resoundingly    against its opposition parties.  However, other opposition political candidates who were competing with the revolutionary party admitted that they were defeated except for the embattled MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai who is still accusing ZANU-PF for allegedly rigging the election.

While addressing a handful of Zimbabweans at a rally in the United Kingdom, Birmingham, Tsvangirai told the attendees that he will not concede defeat against the revolutionary party,ZANU-PF.

"If they think I will concede defeat, they are deluding themselves because everyone knows that last year's election was stolen, I will not do it…," Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai was invited to the United Kingdom by the Royal Institution of International Affairs so that he could enlighten the Chatham House on the Zimbabwean situation. In my view, this trip by Tsvangirai was unnecessary as it depicts how this man is running short of political ideas. If Tsvangirai's major aim was to assist the nation in restoring the economy, the best he could have done was to meet with local leadership and discuss way forward rather than going abroad discussing the state's matters with foreigners.

Tsvangirai's political immaturity is the basis of his party's last year election defeat. Following that, the MDC-T leader imposed candidates for its party's primary elections, removing all those candidates whom the party supporters backed.

In line with that, the MDC-T Phumula Member of Parliament, Albert Mhlanga, exposed the Bulawayo Provincial leadership for rigging last year's MDC-T party primary elections, revealing imposition of candidates preferred by the MDC-T vice-president, Thokozani Khupe.

Tsvangirai lacks substantive reasons on why he keep on saying ZANU-PF rigged the July 2013 elections. In his speech at Chatham House, Tsvangirai blamed Nikuv for being behind his election defeat.
 "The polls were deliberately subverted while a special team of senior ZANU-PF officials and members of the security establishment was at the centre of systematic emasculation of the vote. The role in the elections of Nikuv, an Israeli company fronted by former Mossad agents, remains murky and unexplained to this day," he said.

Tsvangirai is now a dead weight in the MDC-T. For three consecutive elections he has been unable to convince people to vote for him. In short, this man should never dream of becoming Zimbabwe's President. Also,
Tsvangirai's failure to lead his party caused factions in his own MDC-T party.

It is for that reason that the MDC-Renewal Team, led by the former MDC-T secretary general, Tendai Biti, decided to pull out of Tsvangirai's faction. Biti and his cronies wanted a new driver, a new strategy and new motives in order for the party to regain its standing and be taken seriously by Zimbabweans.

In 2002, Tsvangirai lost the election and failed to admit it as well. It was alleged that Tsvangirai challenged the election results and took the case to court. During an election run off in 2008, Tsvangirai lost the election for the second time. He thought that the elections were not fair and credible. However, it was saddening to note that the MDC-T leader had nothing convincing put on the table that could defend his arguments that he won the election against ZANU-PF. If Tsvangirai could only accept defeat, I believe his character could have politically developed by now.

Chatham House may continue to sponsor and support Tsvangirai at its own risk. It is not a secret that the performance of a political leader is the largest contributing factor to the long term success of any party. However, this is different with Tsvangirai, who is not producing any productive results with regards to his political ambitions.   

Reports were saying the major objective of Tsvangirai's visit to the United Kingdom was to look for funds for his party's elective congress set for October this year. However, the trip seems to be fruitless as most of his former donors have lost faith in him. It is also alleged that Tsvangirai avoided the BBC hard talk interview programme. This alone, dishes out the fact that Tsvangirai is not suitable to be a President of this country. Zimbabwe cannot have a leader who is not confident of himself.
To cut the story short, Tsvangirai was afraid of being grilled in a foreign nation.

As an opposition leader, Tsvangirai must be there to proffer alternative ideas on how to mend and improve the economy rather than uttering same lies on what transpired in the past. Tsvangirai's main focus is on politics and elections. I wonder if this man has anything in his mind that assists in restoring the nation's economy.

During the inclusive government, Tsvangirai, who was then Prime Minister, was given a chance to show his capabilities; surprisingly nothing productive came from him together with his former Finance Minister, Tendai Biti. It is well known that these two men enjoyed abusing state funds. Tsvangirai made vivid promises that civil servants would have salary increments above the poverty datum line when he unites with the ZANU-PF Government; unfortunately state funds were diverted to extensive foreign travelling, where he would be accompanied by his various girlfriends.

MDC-T party members have been withdrawing themselves from Tsvangirai's faction. All is not well with this gentleman. If Tsvangirai is failing to solve his on personal problems and that of his own political party, I strongly believe that he will never lead this nation.

For these and other reasons, Tsvangirai, you cannot run away from defeat.