Opinion / Columnist
Realignment of Zimbabwean politics
11 Jul 2013 at 09:31hrs | Views
The 2013 general elections are approaching us at a furious pace often laced with dosages of dramatic twists and turns. The controversies surrounding the political marketplace leading to this crucial plebiscite are as comical as they are sad to any discerning political mind. Comical because Zimbabwe was needlessly divided into two distinct opposing camps, one opposed to the timing and processes leading to the elections and the other not only pushing for, but principally sponsoring and setting the timing, rules and processes leading to the elections. The drama dominated the political arena for weeks one end, before spilling to the National House of Assembly and cabinet. Jealousy with envy, one Jealousy Mawarire decided to join the fray by taking the circus to the Constitutional court. As if that was not enough, others decided to export this quarrel beyond our borders to SADC for adjudication.
The comical element in all this is that this Mickey mouse charade by fully grown men masquerading as leaders is the fact that ,the very day four years ago when they all decided to go to bed together in a barren marriage solemnized by Thabo Mbeki, the GPA marriage was bound to come to an end. The GPA these parties appended their signatures to had clear processes and timelines attached to them to give effect and deliverables during the transition period. Therefore what was this furore about the timing and processes only raised a few weeks before the expiry of the GPA about? In a normal world of normal politicians from a normal political breed, this transition government should have solved these matters in the first 100 days of office instead of the last 100 days!
The silver lining, however, of these shenanigans was the realization by many that frail and old as he is, President Robert Mugabe, with the power of the incumbency on his side, still posed a real threat to the agenda for democratic change. As a result, and typical to their reactionary nature, the fragmented opposition made a feeble attempt to narrow their egocentric differences. That attempt at showing unity of purpose was a disastrous stunt which only helped raise the hopes of the long suffering masses that finally their leaders had heeded their calls for a united front against tyranny under the broad banner of a vehicle called grand coalition. Alas, the stunt was nothing but a media and diplomatic act meant to deceive the ordinary people, SADC and the world in different but strategic measure of motives. Unfortunately only the masses were deceived. Even Baba Jukwa, the American founded and funded faceless social media phenomenon, started heaping praises on the likes of ZAPU President Dumiso Dabengwa who, a few months back, had suffered malicious attacks from Baba Jukwa over some unfounded allegations. In the end, the so called grand coalition suffered a stillbirth delivering a grand yawn of hippo proportions. From the ashes of this failed coalition rose a phoenix that is yet to be comprehended by many, and which is threatening to change the socio-economic and political landscape of Zimbabwe for good.
When it became clear that the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was not being sincere in negotiating for a grand coalition as evidenced by Jameson Timba and Elton Mangoma's offer of government positions to President Dabengwa in order to weaken and alienate and eventually force Welshman Ncube to the negotiating table, Presidents Dabengwa and Ncube were wise enough to see through this tactic ably used by Zanu-PF on its opponents being perfected by its MDC-T cousins with surgical precision and intent. Both leaders refused to be blackmailed. Against all odds, the two men of ZAPU ancestry defied the offer of money and lofty political positions and quietly drew up a political masterstroke whose echo will serenade our political valleys for years to come. The challenge for the two leaders is for them to convince their supporters to avoid being blackmailed as well with the confused and confusing claim that the MDC-T is the only anointed heir to the government throne. If their supporters understand that their salvation lies in devolution of power, instead of devolution of Gukurahundi and marginalization, both of which were devolved generously by a Zanu-PF government and abetted in equal measure if not more, by the MDC-T leader in Monday tea sessions with President Mugabe while sidelining Welshmen Ncube as a Principal.
On a day the whole world expected the announcement of the so-called grand coalition, ZAPU and the MDC (the totemless green one) announced that they were formally entering a pre and post election alliance guided by at least three key fundamental principles. Firstly, noting the parasitic and divisive nature of other political outfits, agreed to limit, and where possible avoid to contest against each other. The icing on this political cake is the agreement that where the other party has not fielded candidates, both alliance partners will support and vote candidates fielded by the other alliance partner. Secondly, and one for political science students, the alliance partners agreed to engage other political parties outside this alliance as one united and unshakable block. Herein lays the genius of Russian trained Dumiso Dabengwa and Professor Welshman Ncube. Thirdly, and very important, that this alliance will outlive the election period and take effect in the formation of a new government. With a stroke of a pen, both leaders fitted firmly into the shoes of Joshua Nkomo for putting people's interests first before their own while on the other hand refusing to be divided by entering a self serving alliance devoid of common values and agenda. The ZAPU-MDC alliance, now called the NcuBengwa pact is based on common developmental issues while for the one entered by MDC-T and its partners, only two things are clear: they are bound by their Manicaland origins and their desire to replace President Robert Mugabe while leaving everything else to luck.
As a result of these developments, the optimists among us have concluded that the NcuBengwa alliance was designed to create leverage for the alliance partners to counter the bossy and "big brother" MDC-T towards the soon-to-be announced grand coalition. This group still believes the grand coalitions is therefore still possible even before elections, leading to the eventually withdrawal of Presidents Dumiso Dabengwa and Welshman Ncube from the Presidential race. The realists among us believe that the NcuBengwa pact is meant to strengthen and give value to devolution of power by having initiatives and processes to be led and determined by locally based and led organizations. The pessimists are calling this tribal politics by a bunch of tribal village leaders with a tribal stinking agenda. This writer belongs to all of the above. The NcuBengwa pact is indeed designed to give leverage to the alliance partners, but not against any one party, but for the defense of the alliance partners' shared goals, values and ideologies.
To those that believe a grand coalition is possible, this writer shares your optimism, but this will only happen after the elections. This is so because this election is likely to lead to a run off of the Presidential poll. Even if that does not happen, a hung Parliament is in the offing rendering it impossible for one party to govern alone. As such, and without doubt, a coalition of parties will be formed after elections. In any case, a grand coalition before elections is simply a stupid and silly proposition in that such negotiations are about giving and taking. In that case, you can only give or take what you know you have in your kitty, not what you had in 2008 or what you expect to harvest in future! In other words, sustainable political settlements of a grand scale demand that those entering them must have respect for each other to avoid unnecessary breakdown of the relationship. This election is the perfect vehicle for all players to earn that respect for political capital in building a sustainable grand coalition. Our country deserves a solid and focused government going forward. Even our fragile economy deserves same. Any wishy washy coalition sugar-coated by grandee words entered into before contestation of all parties will only lead to an Egyptian scenario where the revolution is moving in circles at best and in reverse gear at worst. Even the celebrated opponents of Zanu-PF like me do not wish that to happen to our beloved Zimbabwe.
Then there are those who model tribal lenses when studying the NcuBengwa alliance communiqué. To this lot, different tribes are found all over Zimbabwe, but a special tribe called tribalists is found only in Matebeleland. Even well before Dabengwa and Ncube came together, they were long labeled tribal leaders by the media and commentators. This Zanu-PF self delusionary mantra was used with little or no success against Joshua Nkomo and ZAPU in the 1980s. The MDC-T and its members will have the world believe that Matebeleland is the Headquarters of tribalism in Sub Saharan Africa. But let me extrapolate a few very stubborn facts here. Matebeleland and the Midlands are the only provinces which lost over 20,000 tribesmen in the hands of Zanu-PF during which time most MDC-T leaders were active members of that party. The emergency of one leader from Midlands and the other one from Matebeleland was only a matter of time, and their unity a matter of common sense. But to illustrate that Matlanders are naturally not tribalists, they voted Morgan Tsvangirai's party en mass since 2000 until he decided to disgracefully expel Welshman Ncube from the united MDC. This did not end there; Welshman was labeled a village politician and the people of Matebeleland termites.
To further illustrate his disdain for Ncube and his followers, Morgan Tsvangirai ganged up with Robert Mugabe to block Ncube from becoming a Principal even though his party decided so. The only time that Tsvangirai threatened to pull out of the GNU was in defense of Roy Bennet, never for Ncube, not only because Bennet is white, but because he hails from the same Manicaland province where Tsvangirai himself, Simba Makoni and Reketayi Semwayo, his new alliance partners come from. So who is a tribalist here? Those among us who still believe that Welshman Ncube is the divisive figure need to question what happened to the NCA, ZINASU, WOZA and even the European Union in terms of their relationship with Tsvangirai led MDC-T? Is it fair to blame Ncube or Matebeleland? If so, then Lovemore Madhuku is from Tsholotsho and the EU headquarters is in Gwanda. If Ncube is so bad did he personalize the MDC to the extent of affixing it with a Buheran surname? The party logo, T shirts and symbol have all been personalized by Morgan Tsvangirai. The GPA agreement itself was agreed that "there shall be a Prime Minister who shall be Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC-Tsvangirai". What if the fellow collapsed one fine morning after his many sexual escapades? How was the agreement proceeding after that? This was also copied and pasted for President Mugabe. Zimbabwe was lucky both leaders pulled through. In any case, if Tsvangirai is so popular with the people why steal his glory with a grand coalition with village politician and termites? In the meantime I wish Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, Prof. Welshman Ncube, Dr Morgan Tsvangirai, Cde Robert Mugabe and Cde Kiss-me-not Mukwazhe good health and lucky in this year's elections. May the best group win, and remember, the minority will never be treated the same again. Never ever!
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Mso Ndlovu is a member of ZAPU writing in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on msondlovu@gmail.com
The comical element in all this is that this Mickey mouse charade by fully grown men masquerading as leaders is the fact that ,the very day four years ago when they all decided to go to bed together in a barren marriage solemnized by Thabo Mbeki, the GPA marriage was bound to come to an end. The GPA these parties appended their signatures to had clear processes and timelines attached to them to give effect and deliverables during the transition period. Therefore what was this furore about the timing and processes only raised a few weeks before the expiry of the GPA about? In a normal world of normal politicians from a normal political breed, this transition government should have solved these matters in the first 100 days of office instead of the last 100 days!
The silver lining, however, of these shenanigans was the realization by many that frail and old as he is, President Robert Mugabe, with the power of the incumbency on his side, still posed a real threat to the agenda for democratic change. As a result, and typical to their reactionary nature, the fragmented opposition made a feeble attempt to narrow their egocentric differences. That attempt at showing unity of purpose was a disastrous stunt which only helped raise the hopes of the long suffering masses that finally their leaders had heeded their calls for a united front against tyranny under the broad banner of a vehicle called grand coalition. Alas, the stunt was nothing but a media and diplomatic act meant to deceive the ordinary people, SADC and the world in different but strategic measure of motives. Unfortunately only the masses were deceived. Even Baba Jukwa, the American founded and funded faceless social media phenomenon, started heaping praises on the likes of ZAPU President Dumiso Dabengwa who, a few months back, had suffered malicious attacks from Baba Jukwa over some unfounded allegations. In the end, the so called grand coalition suffered a stillbirth delivering a grand yawn of hippo proportions. From the ashes of this failed coalition rose a phoenix that is yet to be comprehended by many, and which is threatening to change the socio-economic and political landscape of Zimbabwe for good.
When it became clear that the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was not being sincere in negotiating for a grand coalition as evidenced by Jameson Timba and Elton Mangoma's offer of government positions to President Dabengwa in order to weaken and alienate and eventually force Welshman Ncube to the negotiating table, Presidents Dabengwa and Ncube were wise enough to see through this tactic ably used by Zanu-PF on its opponents being perfected by its MDC-T cousins with surgical precision and intent. Both leaders refused to be blackmailed. Against all odds, the two men of ZAPU ancestry defied the offer of money and lofty political positions and quietly drew up a political masterstroke whose echo will serenade our political valleys for years to come. The challenge for the two leaders is for them to convince their supporters to avoid being blackmailed as well with the confused and confusing claim that the MDC-T is the only anointed heir to the government throne. If their supporters understand that their salvation lies in devolution of power, instead of devolution of Gukurahundi and marginalization, both of which were devolved generously by a Zanu-PF government and abetted in equal measure if not more, by the MDC-T leader in Monday tea sessions with President Mugabe while sidelining Welshmen Ncube as a Principal.
On a day the whole world expected the announcement of the so-called grand coalition, ZAPU and the MDC (the totemless green one) announced that they were formally entering a pre and post election alliance guided by at least three key fundamental principles. Firstly, noting the parasitic and divisive nature of other political outfits, agreed to limit, and where possible avoid to contest against each other. The icing on this political cake is the agreement that where the other party has not fielded candidates, both alliance partners will support and vote candidates fielded by the other alliance partner. Secondly, and one for political science students, the alliance partners agreed to engage other political parties outside this alliance as one united and unshakable block. Herein lays the genius of Russian trained Dumiso Dabengwa and Professor Welshman Ncube. Thirdly, and very important, that this alliance will outlive the election period and take effect in the formation of a new government. With a stroke of a pen, both leaders fitted firmly into the shoes of Joshua Nkomo for putting people's interests first before their own while on the other hand refusing to be divided by entering a self serving alliance devoid of common values and agenda. The ZAPU-MDC alliance, now called the NcuBengwa pact is based on common developmental issues while for the one entered by MDC-T and its partners, only two things are clear: they are bound by their Manicaland origins and their desire to replace President Robert Mugabe while leaving everything else to luck.
As a result of these developments, the optimists among us have concluded that the NcuBengwa alliance was designed to create leverage for the alliance partners to counter the bossy and "big brother" MDC-T towards the soon-to-be announced grand coalition. This group still believes the grand coalitions is therefore still possible even before elections, leading to the eventually withdrawal of Presidents Dumiso Dabengwa and Welshman Ncube from the Presidential race. The realists among us believe that the NcuBengwa pact is meant to strengthen and give value to devolution of power by having initiatives and processes to be led and determined by locally based and led organizations. The pessimists are calling this tribal politics by a bunch of tribal village leaders with a tribal stinking agenda. This writer belongs to all of the above. The NcuBengwa pact is indeed designed to give leverage to the alliance partners, but not against any one party, but for the defense of the alliance partners' shared goals, values and ideologies.
To those that believe a grand coalition is possible, this writer shares your optimism, but this will only happen after the elections. This is so because this election is likely to lead to a run off of the Presidential poll. Even if that does not happen, a hung Parliament is in the offing rendering it impossible for one party to govern alone. As such, and without doubt, a coalition of parties will be formed after elections. In any case, a grand coalition before elections is simply a stupid and silly proposition in that such negotiations are about giving and taking. In that case, you can only give or take what you know you have in your kitty, not what you had in 2008 or what you expect to harvest in future! In other words, sustainable political settlements of a grand scale demand that those entering them must have respect for each other to avoid unnecessary breakdown of the relationship. This election is the perfect vehicle for all players to earn that respect for political capital in building a sustainable grand coalition. Our country deserves a solid and focused government going forward. Even our fragile economy deserves same. Any wishy washy coalition sugar-coated by grandee words entered into before contestation of all parties will only lead to an Egyptian scenario where the revolution is moving in circles at best and in reverse gear at worst. Even the celebrated opponents of Zanu-PF like me do not wish that to happen to our beloved Zimbabwe.
Then there are those who model tribal lenses when studying the NcuBengwa alliance communiqué. To this lot, different tribes are found all over Zimbabwe, but a special tribe called tribalists is found only in Matebeleland. Even well before Dabengwa and Ncube came together, they were long labeled tribal leaders by the media and commentators. This Zanu-PF self delusionary mantra was used with little or no success against Joshua Nkomo and ZAPU in the 1980s. The MDC-T and its members will have the world believe that Matebeleland is the Headquarters of tribalism in Sub Saharan Africa. But let me extrapolate a few very stubborn facts here. Matebeleland and the Midlands are the only provinces which lost over 20,000 tribesmen in the hands of Zanu-PF during which time most MDC-T leaders were active members of that party. The emergency of one leader from Midlands and the other one from Matebeleland was only a matter of time, and their unity a matter of common sense. But to illustrate that Matlanders are naturally not tribalists, they voted Morgan Tsvangirai's party en mass since 2000 until he decided to disgracefully expel Welshman Ncube from the united MDC. This did not end there; Welshman was labeled a village politician and the people of Matebeleland termites.
To further illustrate his disdain for Ncube and his followers, Morgan Tsvangirai ganged up with Robert Mugabe to block Ncube from becoming a Principal even though his party decided so. The only time that Tsvangirai threatened to pull out of the GNU was in defense of Roy Bennet, never for Ncube, not only because Bennet is white, but because he hails from the same Manicaland province where Tsvangirai himself, Simba Makoni and Reketayi Semwayo, his new alliance partners come from. So who is a tribalist here? Those among us who still believe that Welshman Ncube is the divisive figure need to question what happened to the NCA, ZINASU, WOZA and even the European Union in terms of their relationship with Tsvangirai led MDC-T? Is it fair to blame Ncube or Matebeleland? If so, then Lovemore Madhuku is from Tsholotsho and the EU headquarters is in Gwanda. If Ncube is so bad did he personalize the MDC to the extent of affixing it with a Buheran surname? The party logo, T shirts and symbol have all been personalized by Morgan Tsvangirai. The GPA agreement itself was agreed that "there shall be a Prime Minister who shall be Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC-Tsvangirai". What if the fellow collapsed one fine morning after his many sexual escapades? How was the agreement proceeding after that? This was also copied and pasted for President Mugabe. Zimbabwe was lucky both leaders pulled through. In any case, if Tsvangirai is so popular with the people why steal his glory with a grand coalition with village politician and termites? In the meantime I wish Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, Prof. Welshman Ncube, Dr Morgan Tsvangirai, Cde Robert Mugabe and Cde Kiss-me-not Mukwazhe good health and lucky in this year's elections. May the best group win, and remember, the minority will never be treated the same again. Never ever!
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Mso Ndlovu is a member of ZAPU writing in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on msondlovu@gmail.com
Source - Mso Ndlovu
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