It's time to call it a day now Tsvangirai

Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai do things just the same way. If you want to correctly predict how Tsvangirai would react on any matter, just think about how Mugabe would have reacted to it. Mugabe is Tsvangirai's unit of correctness and interestingly, Ian Smith was Mugabe's measure of correctness. They do things the same layman way and have no innovation or sophistication.  In fact, Tsvangirai has said many times that Mugabe is his hero.

The only politics which is correct on Tsvangirai's eyes is Mugabe's politics and Tsvangirai himself does not know that he copies Mugabe. Mugabe does not know that he copies Ian Smith and Zimbabwe is held back by use of old Colonial politics of self-emancipation.  

  Traditional belief is a very influential tool in any society. Mugabe's politics and style of leadership in Zimbabwe in the past 33 years has become a culture of correctness in Zimbabwe and is sourced from the Colonial era.

In life, culture and tradition are societal habits that are left to last for a long time and slowly absorbed into a Nation as a measure of correctness. Right or wrong, these habits practised for too long end up defining the destiny of the Nation
I would wage a fierce argument with anyone who disputes that culture and tradition are an acquired habit left for too long.

 Allow me to deviate from the core of the topic and venture into general life to prove that there is nothing called culture or nothing called correct but all these things are habits; One hundred and fifty years ago, Zimbabwean men and women used to wear a 30 X 20 cm piece of animal skin to cover their genitalia. In 1888 the Colonial British brought new dress codes where men had to wear trousers and women dresses. In 1929, English Colonial women in Zimbabwe switched their dresses for ladies trousers and Zimbabwean Black women saw that change as indecent since culture demanded that women must wear dresses and not trousers. In Zimbabwe, many people say it is Shona or Ndebele culture that a woman must wear a dress and not trousers (Ubuntu/ Hunhu). Which Culture? Is it Ndebele, Shona or English Culture? None is true. In 50 BC, the people known as English today didn't wear any dress or trousers, they used to wear animal skin as the Africans of 1888. Other Nations improve life standards by learning from the successes of others. Today, a traditional Zimbabwean woman can't walk up the stairs on modern buildings as her dresses reveal more than a trousers would to any curious man who is downstairs. As architecture changes, dress codes change and laws also change. A Nation that refuses to change is subject to stagnation. Sometimes change happens for a reason and it is known that old people are more resistive to change than the younger ones. Older people view change as cultural deviation and they treat it with a negative spectre. The old are custodians of cultural filth and serve to prolong old ways of doing things in a modern society. Worse if the old are in the position of power.

We learn things in life and refuse to trade old outdated habits for better innovation because we believe the little we know is correct because it has been practised for a long time.

 It is correct in Saudi Arabia for the Government to take an accused person and chop off his head in front of all in a packed stadium. This is total barbarism in Zimbabwe. It is correct to marry many wives in Zimbabwe and it is barbarism in UK. It is correct for a man to marry another man in UK and it is utter barbarism in Zimbabwe. It is correct to eat dogs in China and total barbarism in Zimbabwe. Cat brain is a delicacy in Italy and total rubbish in UK. Snake meat is more expensive than chicken in Vietnam and an abomination in USA.  

A fine-tuned dynamically successful Nation is one that has the gift to copy what is good from other Nations and reject what brings shame.

Likewise in politics, if bad habits are practised for a long time in a country, they become a habit which is later translated as culture.

 When Robert Mugabe was fighting the liberation struggle and criticising the Colonial regime of Police brutality and crookery against the masses, he did not imagine that he would lead worse.

Mugabe does not agree today that his corrupt and dirty Police are worse than Smiths'. He fought a successfully just war and won it but lacked innovative ways to learn from other successful Nations  how a prudent Police force should behave. Instead, he carried on with the Police traits of a brutal Colonial regime he had led the Nation to fight against. As a result, Mugabe brought no change other than retrogression in Zimbabwe because of failure to learn from credible Nations. Mugabe ranks less than anyone who has ever ruled Zimbabwe today because he produced worse results than his predecessor.

Tsvangirai thinks he can do better, but the problem of Tsvangirai is that he has spent 33 years learning Mugabe habits which in reality are fit for year 1888. Tsvangirai does not know any politics different from what he has learnt from Mugabe as Mugabe learnt from Smith and never changed anything. The only change Tsvangirai could have brought was to change the person of Mugabe and replace with a Tsvangirai and change the person of Chihuri and replace with the person of a Moyo. All these proposed changes were persons and not traditions or habits. Zimbabweans want systematic change. Zimbabweans want a professional ZRP which should respect Zimbabweans and should not operate on political inclination while serving a Nation with a diverse political demography.

Zimbabweans want a leader who has learnt why USA, China, UK, and Russia so much value information than money. Zimbabweans want a leader who has had international exposure and knows that politics of today is about how a clever Nation should invest in new technology than cling to old ways. A leader who has learnt what courses to teach children in Universities to improve Manufacturing, Materials, Engineering and Information and Innovation. Zimbabwe needs a leader who has learnt for other Nations that every cubic metre of Zimbabwean soil is valued not only for Agriculture but also for manufacturing materials. Zimbabwe needs a leader who did not learn from Smith and Mugabe how to export raw materials but has learnt from successful Nations how to add value to our materials before export and improve employment.

This is the change Zimbabwe wants. An Educated change that brings skills, knowledge, self-awareness and employment.  Zimbabwe needs a leader who will teach old widows in the rural areas how to package, advertise, market and export (ibhobola/ muboora) and earn a wealthy living.

Such a leader surely could not be one from Zimbabwe where the measure of correctness is a 33 year legacy of Mugabe's politics of one man's praise and National poverty.   
       
It is unfair to expect a man born and bred in Chivi to master the skill of flying an aeroplane when there is no aeroplane in Chivi and the man has never left Chivi to learn new skills.

Zimbabwe needs a leader who has travelled a lot and learnt politics of other big Nations of the World who are successful. Getting a man who has never learnt or spent some years in other developed Nations to rule Zimbabwe is like cooking a stone on a different pot hoping that it will turn into a meal.

As a result of learning Mugabe traits, Morgan Tsvangirai does not want to be criticised for multiple failures in innovative ways to dislodge Mugabe. Tsvangirai does not want to cede leadership to another player just like Mugabe. Like Mugabe, Tsvangirai believes no one in the MDC can lead better.

In all developed countries where many potential Zimbabwean young leaders have settled, if a leader fails to deliver, the new rules are that he must resign. We are not in 1924 and should not get stuck in 1924 policies which were good for colonialism. No leader in a developed country clings on forever no matter how good. A political organisation is a National project in today's thinking and is not owned by a single individual as it was in Colonial 1924. Just in South Africa, another African country like Zimbabwe, Mugabe has travelled three times to celebrate an inauguration of a new Presidents in the past eighteen years. South African economy is ranked as Western and they are now in BRICS. In Botswana, Mugabe has seen four different Presidents in the last twenty years in that country. Botswana lends some of its money to World bodies like IMF.

Botswana and South Africa are not arrogant to learn from those in the West who have done better. Botswana and South Africa hires advisers from the West to improve their democracies. Zimbabwe thinks the secrecy of growth lies within indigenous skills who were inspired by Mbuya Nehanda. Britain, a developed country hires advisers from Canada and America and America hires advisers from Britain. China is recruiting British competence to improve its own and they are the next Super Power. Even Mbuya Nehanda would have seen this simple logics that a succseful Nation is one that is able to pretend stupid and learn new skills from other Nations while improving its own. Mbuya Nehanda would not have wasted time insulting Nations that taught her how to wear a skirt but would have intelligently penetrated them to learn how they made dresses using local material.   

Growth is attained by learning from others and sharing information. China survives by stealing other countries information and so is Russia. Information is the economic driver of the Morden World and those who shun external ideas are destined for doom.
Tsvangirai like Mugabe does not take external advice. Like Mugabe, he believes that his closest allies who do not disagree with him in anything are the qualified people to run Zimbabwe. Like Mugabe, Tsvangirai values people who respect his personality than those who bring an alternative thoughtline which Tsvangirai has never seen done in Zimbabwe.

Like Mugabe, Tsvangirai fears change and yet with his mouth he preaches change. Change is when a new leader with new ideas is given a chance to advance Zimbabwean dreams for better. Nelson Mandela was not the founder of the ANC. Barack Obama is not the founder of the Democratic Party. George Bush is not the founder of the Republican party. Those parties will not die because they refused the temptation to be identified with an individual. Tsvangirai is most expected to know that very basic principle of new political dynamism and free MDC from being a Tsvangirai party into a National property that any Zimbabwean has an equal probability to lead. We all know Zanu will die the day its owner Mugabe dies.

If one man is left to lead a political party for a long time, that party becomes his party and after so many years, it will be difficult for people to like that party as all its mistakes will be attributed to one man.

 If Zanu PF had changed its leader in 1995, this writer would be Zanu today and even Tsvangirai would be Zanu and Zanu would not have needed to rig elections of 2013 and defile its name even more. Zimbabweans may be oppressed to silence but they will punish Zanu one day. No one will want to be associated with the name Zanu in the future and that party is destined to die thus why it uses gun power to impose itself on an angry and poor Nation.

It is strength and not a weakness to cede power while the organisation is still intact and highly valued. Many Zimbabweans and International World would be calling Mugabe a true hero if he had gone at least in 1990 after uniting with Zapu. He had cleansed his dirty Gukurahundi works. Tsvangirai will be a valued assert if he hands over to someone now. Doing the clinging Zanu tradition is bad news for MDC.

Roy Bennett is giving a brotherly advice to Tsvangirai when he says GO! Tsvangirai has never seen anyone giving up power in Zimbabwe and he is stuck in that traditional habit and he can't see wrong if it's done by him. Tsvangirai can easily see Mugabe's clinging wrongs but can't see his own clinging wrongs.

Even if he were to win an election, Tsvangirai would display a Mugabe characteristic as he is doing now. Mugabe and Tsvangirai's beliefs are that tomorrow will be better without idea or plan of how? Mugabe never learnt anything from USA or Britain and so is Tsvangirai. They only visited there and said these bulidings were built with Zimbabwean Colonial money.

For MDC to bring change, they must send their future leaders to diaspora to learn new ways of doing politics. A locally brought up leader will have nothing new to offer. Alternatively they should elect anyone within who has had international exposure and has leadership qualities.

It's time to call it a day Mr Tsvangirai. Biblical Moses is an all-time Hero even today but he did not get to the promised land as was originally planned. John Dube formed the ANC in 1912 and did not see South African Independence in 1994. His organisation did not die because he did not personalise it.  It's time to call it a day now Mr Tsvangirai.