Brotherly advice to Hon Joanna Mamombe

In our families, communities, religious and political groupings and even at workplaces, people tend to be hesitant to tell each other the truth especially that which is deemed the unpalatable truth. However, even atheists are aware of a biblical teaching which says lies keep us in darkness but only the truth can set us free. The hesitation to confront the truth is possibly rooted in our African culture and the values of Ubuntu.

In political circles, the desire to maintain cordial relations and a sense of camaraderie is also another factor which contribute to reluctance to tell each other the truth, to advise a fellow cde. In political circles, the truth can breed mistrust and serious levels of animosity. However there comes a time when it's imperative, prudent and morally justifiable to advise a fellow cde, brother, parent or even your boss to go back to the drawing table. In any case failing to advise one of your own is a betrayal.

At this juncture, with a heavy heart, I have seen it worthwhile to offer constructive advice to Hon Joanna Mamombe, Harare West MP. Not only Hon Joanna Mamombe but even a coterie of youthful political gladiators in opposition political circles including members of the MDC Alliance Youth Assembly. They need to read the political times. They need to be action-oriented. It's high time they stop trying to capitalize on victimhood politics when the masses are expecting leadership from them. Leadership in form parliamentary contributions, leadership in form of community development.

As with the case of Hon Joanna Mamombe she has energetically scored own goals on several occasions. She has consistently and without fail misfired. The electorate of the day demands substance, thought leadership and not unnecessary rabble-rousing jingoism and sabre-rattling. The youthful political gladiators especially those ones in opposition circles should know that the nation is in dire need of progressive youths who are fully equipped to transform the lives of the masses through a number of engagements and interventions. The electorate is waiting for youthful game changers and torchbearers.

Why should the nation be told that Joanna Mamombe has been arrested now and again? Is she the only one who has been found on the receiving end of "state machinery" The last time I remember she had insulted a police officer who was on national duty. The crime of the police officer was that he had arrested a person during the lockdown and in her wayward way of thinking the police officer was not supposed to arrest anyone because there was Covid 19. Joanna Mamombe did not bother to inquire on the nature of the arrest and the crime committed by the suspect but went on to insult the police officer. What if the suspect had committed rape or murder? Is that what we now call a democratic struggle madam Joanna Mamombe? Hon Joanna Mamombe's wayward behaviour is a manifestation of products of skewed and opaque internal processes within MDC Alliance which produce the boisterous at the expense of sober-minded thought leaders.

This is honestly a degeneration of the once applauded democratic struggle by the opposition MDC in Zimbabwe. Hon Joanna Mamombe has proved to all and sundry that she is not just ill-equipped but temperamentally unfit for national office. Mamombe appeared on the limelight like a whirlwind such that the electorate had to marvel anticipating meaning contributions from her only to prove that she is just empty. It has to be known that national matters cannot be decided upon by such people with a caliber of youthful debauchery and juvenile delinquency.

Disappointingly the post Tsvangirai oppositional politics has been a theater of self-aggrandizement maneuvers, a hoax to be more precise. The once envied opposition MDC is now congested with people who are pathologically obsessed with power and power alone. It's sad to note that the opposition in all its forms is churning out power mongers who believe in power as an end, who believe in exclusive politics and politics as a zero-sum game where the so-called winner takes it all. With such traits how then can the opposition be an alternative with an edge over the current ZANU-PF government?

Hon Joanna Mamombe should tone down her political theatrics. In some cases, moderation is needed. Funny enough Mombe in her self-inflicted woes even expects empathy and sympathy from the electorate. Isn't that expecting too much. Carry your own cross madam Joanna Mamombe! Let's not bastardize a democratic struggle.

Political parties are implored with a pleading tone to be pragrammatic in their management of internal democracy such that it doesn't produce boisterous and empty mobocrats. Our political parties in Zimbabwe should not be incubators of mediocrity. Former Harare West MP Jessie Majome fell by the wayside because she failed to withstand the tumultuous and mobocratic processes referred to as primary elections in MDC Alliance. She is a woman of valour, dignity, integrity and intellectual prowess but as expected she was replaced by a mobocrat with nothing to offer except uncouthness. Tackling mobocracy is now a new challenge facing the political parties of the day in Zimbabwe. Proponents of mobocracy are masters and mistresses of publicity stunts. They are rancorous, they won't offer any policy alternative or any meaningful intervention but rather sing, boo and heckle. Unfortunately Advocate Nelson Chamisa seems to be obsessed with such people. He has to work on that.

As one observer rightly noted, the youthful political gladiators of the day especially the members of the MDC Alliance Youth Assembly are at a risk of reinventing the wheel, they should not fall into the trap of repeating the proverbial Madhuku strategy of survival. Grandstanding is not an attribute of good leadership. The youths in opposition should know their responsibilities, parameters and priorities.

Take this as a brotherly advice Madam Joanna Mamombe