Nyikayaramba: Teaching the MDC what the soil refuses

The mighty argument between our death-wishing Prime Minister and Brigadier-General (Douglas) Nyikayaramba is just too sumptuous for cantankerous Manheru to let pass. I have to dip into the pot, mould at least one good morsel and roll it in the blinking, pepe-hot soup. The temptation is to dismiss this big argument as a matter between a posturing prime minister and an odd general given to trespassing beyond the grounds of well-designated barracks.

How wrong, how delusional! So much is at stake in this one hell of a hefty brawl sure to shake this society to its very firmament. Let us briefly reconstruct the skeleton of the argument.

Semiotics of power
One day in June, one Brigadier-General Nyikayaramba took a blunt razor blade to shear the scapel of the Prime Minister and his party, the MDC.

Both the Prime Minister and his party were unfit to rule this country, the general said, adding in the unlikely event of such an abomination, he would rather resign than salute Tsvangirai. And a salute is much more than an activity of a trained hand. It is a symbolic gesture, indeed a cardinal part of semiotics of real governing power. Seen that way, the general's posture, or more accurately, refusal with it, is remarkably profound.

When politics is not guns
Immediately, the Prime Minister reacted urging the "bad" general to remain penned in his barracks. Or if he fancied action in the political domain, to simply shear himself of his camouflaged uniform for this new role which the Prime Minister thinks abhors the wear of war. I quote the Prime Minister: "If you want politics remove the uniform and we will show you what politics is. It is not guns. Stop intimidating people - convince Zimbabweans to vote for you." Of course politics is guns, and the premier knows that perfectly well. Which is why he craves for a salute - even a half-hearted one - from those guys in uniform. Is that not what the so-called security sector reforms are all about?

Off to Barcelona, with hate
Even after this broadside, the Prime Minister did not feel sufficiently purged of his boiling anger. He still needed something else for a good catharsis. A week later and well away from the country and the "offending" general - in Barcelona, Spain to be specific - he again upped the ante, telling his cosmopolitan audience: "Everyday, they (security chiefs) are dabbling in politics, even seeking to influence the date of the election and the conditions under which that election will be held. When the Police Commissioner-General and the Attorney General state publicly that they support a particular political party in an inclusive Government, as in our case, the rule of law becomes perverted and people lose confidence in the institutions they lead." Before long, in the prepared speech, the Prime Minister made a direct appeal to the international community (read the West) to intervene to ensure "change" came to Zimbabwe through a free and fair election. It was not any change, like land reforms for instance. It was his change, the MDC change for which he sought intervention.

Beneath the plinth of State
Before we turn to General Nyikayaramba, three things have already happened. Firstly, the Prime Minister was no longer reacting to a general. Rather, he was now making a systemic point, which is why both the prosecutorial and arresting arms of Government came under withering attack, in addition of course to the uniformed services which the general personified.

Secondly, the Prime Minister took what started off as a duel between him and the general to a court of international public opinion, well away from the national framework. That put the matter not just beyond his original quarreling partner, General Nyikayaramba, but also beyond his Government and country. We are talking here about the Prime Minister of this country, but who voluntarily decides to jump past national platforms set up partly at his behest to address such very matters, all to place his grievances elsewhere in foreign lands and before foreign audiences.

I am talking about national platforms such as the weekly Monday meeting between him and his boss, President Mugabe. I am talking about the weekly Tuesday Cabinet meetings which also include provision for extraordinary sessions to deal with emerging or unique problems of inclusivity. I am talking about the National Security Council - that institutional reminder of Rhodesia - set up solely to meet promptings from the Rhodesian-coloured MDC.

No, the big man decided to jump off the glistening, palatial plinth of State for a deep dive into the dim, murky and rough world of military barracks, all to parley and spar with a uniformed officer he accuses of joining the political domain inappropriately clad in military uniform.

Yet by conduct, Tsvangirai became the perfect alter ego of the "wayward" general: he strayed into a military barrack fully cladded in civilian uniform! And so, the reposte from Nyikayaramba should be fairly straightforward: "If you want the military remove the civilian uniform and we will show you what soldiership is. It is not words. Stop provoking commanders - earn their respect and salute."

Surely the way to tell generals not to go political cannot be through an overly political, overly partisan platform we call a rally? To do so is precisely to communicate an opposite message, which is what the Prime Minister has so well done. I will defer the third point for now.

Best attire for security threats
Expectedly, the general's response was political, very political and here is a sample of that response: "What Tsvangirai is saying is nonsense. We are dealing with a national security threat, which can only be dealt with by people in uniform. If it was a normal political environment, one would hope to retire at some point and join politics. However, we can't afford to be in an akimbo when there is this foreign attack . . .

Tsvangirai doesn't pose a political threat in any way in Zimbabwe, but is a major security threat.

"He takes instructions from foreigners who seek to effect illegal regime change in Zimbabwe. That is what has invited the security forces to be involved because we want to ensure we protect our national security interests . . . Daydreamers who want to reverse the gains of our liberation struggle will continue daydreaming. They can go to hell . . . They will never rule this country. We cannot keep quiet. We will continue speaking and as the security forces, we will not sit back and watch things going wrong."

One threat Sui generis
The general cut deeper: "If his (Tsvangirai) party was a genuine indigenous political party, we wouldn't be involved. People have to understand that our mandate as security forces is to make sure we protect our sovereignty and the integrity of the nation. We had Abel Muzorewa, Enock Dumbutshena and other people forming their political parties, but we never had any problems with them.

"These were indigenous political parties that understood our national interests. As the security forces, we should be worried if we see the British and American machinations . . . Soldiers are not going to sit back and watch while the foreign forces want to attack us."

To be or not be in uniform
Only a fool rushes to shorthands like the GPA or security sector reforms in order to wish away core issues sticking out so sorely from this great altercation whose simpler, funnier side may be summarised as to wear or not to wear, that is the question! Yet the issues are deeper than the sartorial, and one needs to go beyond the uniform to recover the core issues camouflaged by the angry rhetoric. A whole general has been ruled offside by a man who happens to be the Prime Minister of this country.

Tsvangirai did not use the Monday meeting; did not use Cabinet; did not use the National Security Council; did not approach the President as the Commander-in-Chief, to query what the Brigadier General said.

Instead he used an MDC-T rally in Gweru and again in Bulawayo to vent his reaction to the general. He could not have spoken as the Prime Minister of this country therefore. It is thus plain insane to suggest that the general promised the Prime Minister a coup. How do you coup a man who is not Head of State or Commander-in-Chief, coup a man who is a mere chief minister?

Much worse a man whose self-apotheosis is founded on miasmic grounds of an election that might come sometime some day, which he claims he shall win, ceteris paribus! And he feels so strongly about the matter of generals that he commits his own freedom and life to its realisation.

He is ready to "rot" in jail to ensure boys keeps to their barracks. To die even. Surely something great must be at stake to trigger such a self-immolation wish, or more accurately the symbolic offer of it. I happen to know that the MDC-T leader loves life, loves it whole and larger, such that in him death will never find a willing and waiting victim. With the enhanced status, the pomp of Prime Ministerial office, that instinct could only have grown stronger! The Prime Minister was not making an offer with his life, merely stressing a point through a dramatic metaphor! This is why no iota of heroic self-sacrifice should ever attach to this grandiloquent figure of speech.

Posing a continuing threat
Significantly General Nyikayaramba is using the plural "we" throughout his address and interviews. It is not a royal "we", I am sure. He is representing a shared viewpoint, institutional one even.He is a general, is he not? And one peeping upper echelons of the command if one considers that he carries one star. He has called a man who occupies the office of Prime Minister a "national security threat" to be dealt with by men in uniform. He has linked that man to foreign interests, specifically the British and the Americans. He has linked that man to a challenge to our sovereignty, to the reversal of our liberation goals.

Which takes me to the third point I had suspended. By taking the argument to Barcelona, indeed attacking national offices in a foreign country, and what is more, appealing for international intervention, the Prime Minister gave credence to charges against him, did he not? He came across as indeed working against the national interest, working with and for foreign interests and, in light of the reigning interventionist ethos in global affairs, as indeed posing a continuing extraordinary security threat to the Republic, to use the parlance of Zidera.

Excusing the good general
Equally, by using a party political platform to react to the general, he exonerated the general from aspersions of attacking a national office, thereby threatening the constitutional order. Nyikayaramba's censorious remarks related to a party politician and to a political party; they did not relate to the Prime Minister, his Office or his conduct in that national Office. And, judging by his choice of platforms, content and allies, Tsvangirai agrees Nyikayaramba was grappling with his misconduct as a leader of a political party. The General has nothing to worry about; this column has no reason for self-restraint. The man is fair game and here are a few sobering thoughts for him.

The General with an army
Let no one in both MDCs ever think that Nyikayaramba is aberrational. He is not. Far from being alone, he has an "army". He is expressing a deeply held view which is well-founded. What is more, he is expressing a view whose currency goes beyond the barracks. Such a view cannot be wished away. It cannot be corrected at a rally in Gweru or Bulawayo. It cannot be resolved in Barcelona. From its launch, the MDC became a permanent item on national security threat assessment. Surely, this cannot be news to the MDC leader or his friends?

The MDC was founded and funded by foreign interests to achieve ends quite inimical to the goals of this country, nation and its people. Those ends are still on active file. They include restoring white claims to land rights in this country. They include "preserving white way of life" and interests as defined under Rhodesia. With the land gone, the focus has now shifted to mines and mineral interests, which is why both MDCs speak with twisted tongues on indigenisation and empowerment.

That the likes of Biti are beginning to chime different notes on land owes less to a change of view and more to a recognition that Zanu-PF has irreversibly overthrown the Rhodesian status quo. We have nothing to be grateful about. And, land is a national security issue, a liberation goal, an identity marker, a sovereignty yardstick. You take a stance against it, "nyika inoramba".

The man who loves sanctions
By inviting sanctions against this country, this nation and its people, the MDC formations have injured the national interest, threatened its very stability. Both formations are still to recant. As recent as the Sandton Sadc Summit, the Sadc anti-sanctions lobby disclosed that Tsvangirai and his MDC-T had told the Americans not to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe.

He needs the hurtful sanctions for leverage against Zanu-PF, he is quoted by America's Johnnie Carson as saying. Surely this can only be the stance of a foreign political pawn, never that of the Prime Minister of this country?

It is traitorous, it is an injury to the national interest, it is a veritable threat to national security. And when the opportunity for self-reclaiming was availed to the Prime Minister through the anti-sanctions campaign, he snubbed it, suggesting he cannot break free from foreign interests which stand to gain from those sanctions. How can Nyikayaramba ever be wrong?

A governance KPCS?
The Prime Minister is yet to find his own tongue on the issue of diamonds and the KPCS. Set aside those turgid press releases from his party office, you don't find him associated with the national campaign for the liberation of our diamonds. The stilted argument is that the diamonds are being abused by Zanu-PF. For him and his party, the solution is to hand over Marange to foreign interests and de Beers through an intricate certification regime that allows Britain, America, Canada and Australia a free hand under cover of human rights.

Let us transfer the logic to our very independence. The MDC formations argue it is being abused by Zanu-PF. That means the solution surely should be introducing a political KPCS for governance, with a British monitor at the helm, he-e? A second Lord Soames? Politically, this is servile thinking born out of political tutelage no one in the ranks of both liberation movements ever envisaged. The anodyne to vexatious political issues of the day is a return to colonial relations?

The earth will reject him
My last point on this matter is a speculative one, albeit a well founded speculation. Blair's self-confessed reason for wanting to invade Zimbabwe during his time related to imperial white interests. But these interests spoke the language of the MDC to shore up their otherwise dirty cause.

Equally, America uses MDC and Tsvangirai to sell its planned war games here. Tsvangirai's recent trip to Gabon is another hobbling step in that perverse direction. Any hostile action between Zimbabwe and the expansionist West will have Tsavngirai and his MDC as the main pretext and publishable reason.

He is the cat's paw in an imperial game against his own country, his own people. About that, Nyikayaramba is dead right. And the General is not alone. Tsvangirai might as well know that I, Nathaniel Manheru of the vaHera clan too consider him a national security threat. Between the General and I is a common cause. Zanu-PF has no reason to feel awkward on this matter. So much is at stake to be crippled by vain issues of propriety. The man is a security threat to this country. That won't go away because Zanu-PF has played shy.

That won't go away until Tsvangirai does something about his wayward politics. The ballot cannot cleanse him. Worse, an invading foreign army. The soil will weep against him in dreadful chastisement. This earth will reject him. Hence, Nyikayaramba. Icho!

The author can be contacted on nathaniel.manheru@zimpapers.co.zw