Opinion / Columnist
Comrade Matemadanda speaks without thinking, a misguided missile
28 Jun 2018 at 14:27hrs | Views
Just imagine a respected war veterans association official visiting Bindura a few days before a general election. Just imagine the Cde Matemadanda criticising an important decision made by the party and attacking an earlier political judgment made by the province. Matemadand spits venom against Advocate Dina over filing his name with the nominating court. One wonders whether Matemadanda had consulted widely or he was simply carried away by the power and his inflated ego.
The gossip and comments he spreads around against the NPC Rugeje lives one wondering whether he is doing this out of malice or simply because he did not get the position Rugeje for. Surely at the level Matemadanda is on now it is total madness to fight for a position by jeopardising the party. Comrade Matemadanda should know better that all cannot be NPC. The best he can do for his party now is to support Rugeje and stop insulting and inciting people.
In Bindura Cde Matemadanda criticises cde Rugenje calling him a good for nothing cadre. This is a sign of a man powered by a vendetta. ZANU PF is bigger than an individual. Comrade Matemadanda must disembark from his high horse and come to the ground of reality.
The meeting chaired by Matemadanda in Bindura was called for the purpose of castigating Cde Dinha. It became very clear that Matemadanda did not discuss with comrade Phiri who was a senior cadre in the province. It turned out that Dinha was a team player and his actions were sanctioned by the party, And indeed by the province.
The bitterness in Matemadanda is generating from the fact that he was appointed NPC only to be replaced by Rugeje. This was not a judgement on his ability but it was strategical consideration. Comrades must learn to accept what they are given. They serve at the pleasure of His Excellency. Bad mouthing those who have been trusted with positions only destroys the party. This behaviour is deeply depressing and flabbergasting knee shaking at the most.
There is an outcry. Everyone is saying it was no business of Matemadanda to say things in public - and on a province which is not his, - that could influence the outcome of an election. Even if there were no prospect of anyone taking the Matemadanda remotely seriously, there would be widespread agreement that he should have kept his mouth shut.
Comrade Perrence Shiri should be applauded for coming out in defence of Dinha. While this was firefighting it has surely present the party in a different oicture. On the same note Dinha must be applauded for not retaliating. His composure shows his maturity, respect and indeed patriotism.
While Matemadanda is not happy that he is not the NPC, he must at least applaud the progress and inroads made by General Rugeje. The mobilisation of rallies which are the most highly attended without reports of threat. the organisation and mobilisation of the electorate for any rally being addressed by the HE and by the VPs shows the army perseverance ruling the notes in Rugeje's blood. People should not oppose for the sake of opposing. Rugeje has proved all detractors wrong. His efforts are not individualistic, they are for the party.
I cannot talk about the commissariat without mentioning cde Hungwe Rugeje's deputy. I learnt a lot from this blessed active lady. She has an answer to every disgruntled cadre. I loved the way she responded to each and every complaint loaded person. Those who came with heavy hearts left smilling and jumpimg with Joy.
Comrade Hungwe and Comrade Rugeje and their team are the engine behind mthe success of our party. Our victory this year is fully caked by the hard work of the commissariat.
Now those who are throwing bombs to scare the people from attending rallies with the aim of blaming Rugeje and Hungwe for failing to mobilise will only be embarrassed. The bomb has made the commissariat more purposeful. Without them our party will be in sixes and sevens.
Yet Matemadanda and his team have done in the Zimbabwe exactly what we imagine a traitor doing. He has attacked the legality of some of the administration's decisions by challenging the legal basis of allowing Dinha to register. He was quick to call Dinha a traitor thereby sowing hatred and confusion. This is a divide and rule theory which will not work in ZANU PF anymore.
Matemadanda is not right on both counts - but absolutely, and dangerously, wrong to have said what he did. There is a gulf between what the province believes and what even conservatively-minded people in this country think. But it is amazing that the senior war vet should have pointed out the differences in public a few days before the elections. That she should have done so is further proof of his lack of judgment.
It is no defence to say that his speech in Bindura and his attack on Rugeje was made in private. If he did not realise that it was bound to be leaked to the Press, his new 'fixer' and PR adviser, should have been able to work it out for him.
Nor is it any comfort to say that most Zimbabweans - self-preoccupied at the best of times and positively egotistical around elections - will have barely registered what Matemadanda said. The fact is that Matemadanda, who has political status in his own right, has made specific political criticisms of the NPC. It has never, ever happened before. The rule by gossip destroys the party.
During the 2017 Congress comrade Matemadanda refused to share a platform at Star FM with a ZANU PF activist because Matemadanda believes he was superior. I don't know how he will explain the HE buying chicken in Chicken inn.
But nothing he has done previously compares in terms of sheer crassness with his remarks Bindura were he attacks the NPC and Dinha.
The only possible explanation is that he thinks his position as a war vet senior official despite irrefutable constitutional arguments to the contrary, gives him the right to speak on a national, and now an international, stage.
Matemadanda was "somewhat of an unguided missile" he believes that he is above the law. He thinks everybody owes him respect and the pride in him destroys hid touch. Matemadanada I think, is an enthusiastic individual, but also somewhat of an unguided missile. "We also, I think, suffered from his propensity to have rushes of blood to the head and pass various stories and information to journalists without appropriate prior consultation. "The pressure to generate results, I fear, did lead to the cutting of corners. I think perhaps Matemadanda was at that point guilty of flying a bit too close to the sun."
For the sake of the party Matemadanda must learn to have the heart of the party at heart, he must not attack the appointed of the HE. It is in his important to protect the party his sweat and blood
VAZET2000@YAHOO.CO.UK
The gossip and comments he spreads around against the NPC Rugeje lives one wondering whether he is doing this out of malice or simply because he did not get the position Rugeje for. Surely at the level Matemadanda is on now it is total madness to fight for a position by jeopardising the party. Comrade Matemadanda should know better that all cannot be NPC. The best he can do for his party now is to support Rugeje and stop insulting and inciting people.
In Bindura Cde Matemadanda criticises cde Rugenje calling him a good for nothing cadre. This is a sign of a man powered by a vendetta. ZANU PF is bigger than an individual. Comrade Matemadanda must disembark from his high horse and come to the ground of reality.
The meeting chaired by Matemadanda in Bindura was called for the purpose of castigating Cde Dinha. It became very clear that Matemadanda did not discuss with comrade Phiri who was a senior cadre in the province. It turned out that Dinha was a team player and his actions were sanctioned by the party, And indeed by the province.
The bitterness in Matemadanda is generating from the fact that he was appointed NPC only to be replaced by Rugeje. This was not a judgement on his ability but it was strategical consideration. Comrades must learn to accept what they are given. They serve at the pleasure of His Excellency. Bad mouthing those who have been trusted with positions only destroys the party. This behaviour is deeply depressing and flabbergasting knee shaking at the most.
There is an outcry. Everyone is saying it was no business of Matemadanda to say things in public - and on a province which is not his, - that could influence the outcome of an election. Even if there were no prospect of anyone taking the Matemadanda remotely seriously, there would be widespread agreement that he should have kept his mouth shut.
Comrade Perrence Shiri should be applauded for coming out in defence of Dinha. While this was firefighting it has surely present the party in a different oicture. On the same note Dinha must be applauded for not retaliating. His composure shows his maturity, respect and indeed patriotism.
While Matemadanda is not happy that he is not the NPC, he must at least applaud the progress and inroads made by General Rugeje. The mobilisation of rallies which are the most highly attended without reports of threat. the organisation and mobilisation of the electorate for any rally being addressed by the HE and by the VPs shows the army perseverance ruling the notes in Rugeje's blood. People should not oppose for the sake of opposing. Rugeje has proved all detractors wrong. His efforts are not individualistic, they are for the party.
I cannot talk about the commissariat without mentioning cde Hungwe Rugeje's deputy. I learnt a lot from this blessed active lady. She has an answer to every disgruntled cadre. I loved the way she responded to each and every complaint loaded person. Those who came with heavy hearts left smilling and jumpimg with Joy.
Comrade Hungwe and Comrade Rugeje and their team are the engine behind mthe success of our party. Our victory this year is fully caked by the hard work of the commissariat.
Now those who are throwing bombs to scare the people from attending rallies with the aim of blaming Rugeje and Hungwe for failing to mobilise will only be embarrassed. The bomb has made the commissariat more purposeful. Without them our party will be in sixes and sevens.
Yet Matemadanda and his team have done in the Zimbabwe exactly what we imagine a traitor doing. He has attacked the legality of some of the administration's decisions by challenging the legal basis of allowing Dinha to register. He was quick to call Dinha a traitor thereby sowing hatred and confusion. This is a divide and rule theory which will not work in ZANU PF anymore.
Matemadanda is not right on both counts - but absolutely, and dangerously, wrong to have said what he did. There is a gulf between what the province believes and what even conservatively-minded people in this country think. But it is amazing that the senior war vet should have pointed out the differences in public a few days before the elections. That she should have done so is further proof of his lack of judgment.
It is no defence to say that his speech in Bindura and his attack on Rugeje was made in private. If he did not realise that it was bound to be leaked to the Press, his new 'fixer' and PR adviser, should have been able to work it out for him.
Nor is it any comfort to say that most Zimbabweans - self-preoccupied at the best of times and positively egotistical around elections - will have barely registered what Matemadanda said. The fact is that Matemadanda, who has political status in his own right, has made specific political criticisms of the NPC. It has never, ever happened before. The rule by gossip destroys the party.
During the 2017 Congress comrade Matemadanda refused to share a platform at Star FM with a ZANU PF activist because Matemadanda believes he was superior. I don't know how he will explain the HE buying chicken in Chicken inn.
But nothing he has done previously compares in terms of sheer crassness with his remarks Bindura were he attacks the NPC and Dinha.
The only possible explanation is that he thinks his position as a war vet senior official despite irrefutable constitutional arguments to the contrary, gives him the right to speak on a national, and now an international, stage.
Matemadanda was "somewhat of an unguided missile" he believes that he is above the law. He thinks everybody owes him respect and the pride in him destroys hid touch. Matemadanada I think, is an enthusiastic individual, but also somewhat of an unguided missile. "We also, I think, suffered from his propensity to have rushes of blood to the head and pass various stories and information to journalists without appropriate prior consultation. "The pressure to generate results, I fear, did lead to the cutting of corners. I think perhaps Matemadanda was at that point guilty of flying a bit too close to the sun."
For the sake of the party Matemadanda must learn to have the heart of the party at heart, he must not attack the appointed of the HE. It is in his important to protect the party his sweat and blood
VAZET2000@YAHOO.CO.UK
Source - Dr Masimba Mavaza
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