Opinion / Columnist
Vince Musewe political power is not about numbers alone, quality counts!
06 Oct 2014 at 06:09hrs | Views
Vince Musewe's name has become a household name to many Zimbabweans as his thought provoking articles have become compulsory reading "must read". His last two articles were a real disappointment because they lacked the usual objectivity. See Tsvangirai must not listen to cowards, 'prophetpreneurs' are disgusting and Will Morgan Tsvangirai prevail? opinion Bulawayo24 and Nehanda Radio respective.
"Simply because Tsvangirai has failed in the past does not make him an undesirable choice for the millions of Zimbabweans out there who want to see the back of Mugabe," wrote Musewe in the last article.
"Of course we have academics world-wide who have written Tsvangirai off, but we must always remember that these are theoretical or academic analysts and most have not done any practical research on the ground to measure the extent of Tsvangirai's support or lack of it. So we should not hurry to conclude that these analyses are correct, it would be dangerous for us to do so."
What is dangerous here is the failure to write off Tsvangirai completely; he did not just fail but did so irredeemably!
Tsvangirai had the majority in the GNU parliament and in cabinet; had the backing of SADC Heads, the guarantors of the GPA, in getting the democratic reforms, which everyone had agreed were necessary for free, fair and credible elections, implemented; and he had five years to implement the reforms. And yet not even one reform was ever implemented. Not one!
Tsvangirai was warned to implement the reforms repeatedly throughout the five years of the GNU and then not to take part in the elections without the reform but he paid no heed.
The only two rational reasons why Tsvangirai failed to implement even one reform and then fail to pay heed to all the advice given to him on the matter are that he is not just corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent too. Mugabe laid a honey trap for the MDC leaders; how quickly and thoroughly they forgot their promises to deliver democratic changes. They did not listen to the warnings because they did not want to be reminded their promises to the nation.
Yes Tsvangirai is corrupt but worse still he believed that MDC would win the 31st July 2013 elections even if Zanu PF tried all their dirtiest tricks to rig the vote. Tsvangirai challenged Mugabe to rig; presented the tyrant with the cheek and asked for Mugabe's best shot! Mugabe hit Tsvangirai with his best shot alright – a sledge hammer – and Tsvangirai was knocked out stone cold.
Last year's vote rigging was a blatant sledge hammer affair: there was no voters roll, the number of polling stations was increased from 2 000 to a staggering 9 000 just two days before the elections, Mugabe bussed in voters, etc., etc. But since Tsvangirai had been so confident that he could take any blow from Mugabe regardless how dirty it happened to be, no one cared to listen to him complaining after the fact.
Tsvangirai's failure to appreciate the critic importance of implementing the reform showed him for the breathtakingly incompetent leader he and his MDC friends are!
Looking ahead, we still need to implement all the reforms first if we are ever to have free, fair and credible elections and force Mugabe and Zanu PF out of office. During the GNU MDC held all the trump cards and now it is Zanu PF that holds all the trump cards. It is naïve, to say the least, to think that Tsvangirai, corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent failed as he has already proven to be, will get the reform implemented now when it is near impossible compared to the GNU time when he failed.
"No credible opposition has emerged to occupy the vacuum left by the disappointment of millions in the last elections and by Tsvangirai's uninspiring behaviour on issues of accountability and fidelity," Musewe pointed out. "Questions on his "suitability" still remain, but the masses hardly use the same criteria as we do when it comes to electing their leaders."
What Mr Musewe should have said is that the masses in Zimbabwe do not have the foggiest idea of what constitute a suitable and competent leader and hence their electing Tsvangirai who has since proven to be breathtakingly incompetent. Worse still even with the benefit of hindsight of Tsvangirai's blundering incompetence is last year's elections and over a year for the reality to sink in there are still many Zimbabweans who still consider him a suitable leader.
"After all political power is about numbers and not theory," wrote Mr Musewe. Nothing could be further from the truth; Tsvangirai has had the numbers but has never had the political power!
Mugabe has used MDC's masses, known to follow blindly like sheep to the slaughter, for his selfish purposes. During the 16th March 2013 referendum Mugabe bamboozled Tsvangirai into believing the Copac constitution would deliver free and fair elections the tyrant knew MDC followers would follow Tsvangirai blindly. They did and approved the rubbish constitution by a whopping 95% yes vote. It is now a historic fact that the elections were not free and fair.
During the July elections Mugabe used a similar tactic as King Leonidas of Sparta with his 300 used to stop Xerxes of Persia one million strong army at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae (The Hot Gates). Mugabe saw to it that nearly a million voters, most MDC supporter failed to vote because their names were not in the constituency voters roll they expected it to be whilst he multiplied Zanu PF votes by bussing his supporters from one polling station to the next each casting as many as ten votes at each stop. Just as Xerxes' horde had counted for nothing Tsvangirai's wildebeest herd of followers counter for nothing!
Having a slow thinking electorate is bad for democracy but having one that has completely switch-off as to vote the same breathtakingly incompetent individuals is the worst curse that can befall any nation!
It is the democratic right of the Zimbabwean people to have a tyrant or a blundering incompetent to lead them but they should also know that there is a dear price to be paid for that; we are in this hell-hole because we did not pay attention whom we elected in the past and we will remain stuck in this hole for generations to come as long as we continue to elect incompetent individuals!
So to paraphrase you therefore Mr Musewe, political power is not just about numbers, quality counts. A herd of followers led by an incompetent leader will never get far regardless of their numeric superiority. The best scenario is one where there are quality followers because one is guaranteed of quality leaders at all times!
"Simply because Tsvangirai has failed in the past does not make him an undesirable choice for the millions of Zimbabweans out there who want to see the back of Mugabe," wrote Musewe in the last article.
"Of course we have academics world-wide who have written Tsvangirai off, but we must always remember that these are theoretical or academic analysts and most have not done any practical research on the ground to measure the extent of Tsvangirai's support or lack of it. So we should not hurry to conclude that these analyses are correct, it would be dangerous for us to do so."
What is dangerous here is the failure to write off Tsvangirai completely; he did not just fail but did so irredeemably!
Tsvangirai had the majority in the GNU parliament and in cabinet; had the backing of SADC Heads, the guarantors of the GPA, in getting the democratic reforms, which everyone had agreed were necessary for free, fair and credible elections, implemented; and he had five years to implement the reforms. And yet not even one reform was ever implemented. Not one!
Tsvangirai was warned to implement the reforms repeatedly throughout the five years of the GNU and then not to take part in the elections without the reform but he paid no heed.
The only two rational reasons why Tsvangirai failed to implement even one reform and then fail to pay heed to all the advice given to him on the matter are that he is not just corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent too. Mugabe laid a honey trap for the MDC leaders; how quickly and thoroughly they forgot their promises to deliver democratic changes. They did not listen to the warnings because they did not want to be reminded their promises to the nation.
Yes Tsvangirai is corrupt but worse still he believed that MDC would win the 31st July 2013 elections even if Zanu PF tried all their dirtiest tricks to rig the vote. Tsvangirai challenged Mugabe to rig; presented the tyrant with the cheek and asked for Mugabe's best shot! Mugabe hit Tsvangirai with his best shot alright – a sledge hammer – and Tsvangirai was knocked out stone cold.
Last year's vote rigging was a blatant sledge hammer affair: there was no voters roll, the number of polling stations was increased from 2 000 to a staggering 9 000 just two days before the elections, Mugabe bussed in voters, etc., etc. But since Tsvangirai had been so confident that he could take any blow from Mugabe regardless how dirty it happened to be, no one cared to listen to him complaining after the fact.
Tsvangirai's failure to appreciate the critic importance of implementing the reform showed him for the breathtakingly incompetent leader he and his MDC friends are!
Looking ahead, we still need to implement all the reforms first if we are ever to have free, fair and credible elections and force Mugabe and Zanu PF out of office. During the GNU MDC held all the trump cards and now it is Zanu PF that holds all the trump cards. It is naïve, to say the least, to think that Tsvangirai, corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent failed as he has already proven to be, will get the reform implemented now when it is near impossible compared to the GNU time when he failed.
"No credible opposition has emerged to occupy the vacuum left by the disappointment of millions in the last elections and by Tsvangirai's uninspiring behaviour on issues of accountability and fidelity," Musewe pointed out. "Questions on his "suitability" still remain, but the masses hardly use the same criteria as we do when it comes to electing their leaders."
What Mr Musewe should have said is that the masses in Zimbabwe do not have the foggiest idea of what constitute a suitable and competent leader and hence their electing Tsvangirai who has since proven to be breathtakingly incompetent. Worse still even with the benefit of hindsight of Tsvangirai's blundering incompetence is last year's elections and over a year for the reality to sink in there are still many Zimbabweans who still consider him a suitable leader.
"After all political power is about numbers and not theory," wrote Mr Musewe. Nothing could be further from the truth; Tsvangirai has had the numbers but has never had the political power!
Mugabe has used MDC's masses, known to follow blindly like sheep to the slaughter, for his selfish purposes. During the 16th March 2013 referendum Mugabe bamboozled Tsvangirai into believing the Copac constitution would deliver free and fair elections the tyrant knew MDC followers would follow Tsvangirai blindly. They did and approved the rubbish constitution by a whopping 95% yes vote. It is now a historic fact that the elections were not free and fair.
During the July elections Mugabe used a similar tactic as King Leonidas of Sparta with his 300 used to stop Xerxes of Persia one million strong army at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae (The Hot Gates). Mugabe saw to it that nearly a million voters, most MDC supporter failed to vote because their names were not in the constituency voters roll they expected it to be whilst he multiplied Zanu PF votes by bussing his supporters from one polling station to the next each casting as many as ten votes at each stop. Just as Xerxes' horde had counted for nothing Tsvangirai's wildebeest herd of followers counter for nothing!
Having a slow thinking electorate is bad for democracy but having one that has completely switch-off as to vote the same breathtakingly incompetent individuals is the worst curse that can befall any nation!
It is the democratic right of the Zimbabwean people to have a tyrant or a blundering incompetent to lead them but they should also know that there is a dear price to be paid for that; we are in this hell-hole because we did not pay attention whom we elected in the past and we will remain stuck in this hole for generations to come as long as we continue to elect incompetent individuals!
So to paraphrase you therefore Mr Musewe, political power is not just about numbers, quality counts. A herd of followers led by an incompetent leader will never get far regardless of their numeric superiority. The best scenario is one where there are quality followers because one is guaranteed of quality leaders at all times!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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