Mugabe's detractors were too excited when he made a speech mix-up

President Mugabe's detractors were too excited when he made a speech mix-up during the official opening of parliament on Tuesday. The MDC-T went to an extent of demanding his resignation citing mental incapacity.

It has become the tradition of the MDC-T to blow issues of this nature out of proportion. They celebrated the mix-up as if that will catapult them into power. It was a genuine mistake that government has already admitted and regretted. That mistake has also been corrected. There is no reason whatsoever for the MDC-T to keep on harping on that common mistake. Zimbabwe has many other pressing issues that demand our energy. It is a real sidetrack designed by the MDC-T, which serious Zimbabweans must just brush off and move on.

Speech mix-ups are not unique to President Mugabe. The Indian Foreign Minister once gave a wrong speech to the United Nations at a time when his country was seeking a permanent place in the Security Council. He read his Portuguese counterpart's speech instead. Barrack Obama in 2009 also read a speech that was supposed to be read by the Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen and he went to an extent of thanking himself. Can we say Obama is senile?

The MDC-T wants to link the mix-up to senility. Of course, at 91 the President has been abundantly blessed with the gift of life. However, his mental faculties are still in sound form, better than that of a certain 63-year old presidential hopeful.

That mix-up will not, in any way compare with Tsvangirai's diplomatic gaffes. Readers may remember how the MDC-T leader violated basic diplomatic etiquettes when he visited Europe after assuming the office of the prime minister. He could be seen leading his host to a guard of honour. He also squeezed too hard and maintained a grip hold of the tender hand of the Germany Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

He was too excited by the red carpet extended to him in Germany to an extent that he even forgot the colours of his flag and ended up on the wrong podium. In all these diplomatic bungles that were on television, Tsvangirai was embarrassingly corrected in the full view of the world.

Not to be outdone in these embarrassing faux pas was his wife, Elizabeth Macheka who failed to pronounce the word ‘reiterate.' The word is a common vocabulary that I first came across when I was in grade five at a rural primary school in Chipinge. It backfired on those who attempted to overvalue her intellect and tried to match her with the First Lady Dr Amai Grace Mugabe.

The Tuesday mix-up cannot be blamed on President's age because officials who are mandated to prepare the speech made that blunder.

Ironically, those officials are very young and energetic. However, this does not mean to apportion blame on them and condemn these officials. The point is that these mistakes are common and inevitable, unless you cease to be human.

The honourable members from Zanu PF are being attacked for cheering the speech that was read a month ago. The insinuation is that either these members do not listen to President's speeches or they do not have the spine to advise the President when he goes astray. As Professor Jonathan Moyo aptly said, the message was still appealing, relevant and cheerable. This is the major reason why Zanu PF MPs cheered when the speech was read. Even if that speech is to be read today or next month, that masterpiece will still command spontaneous ululation and clapping of hands.

The silence from the opposition bench when President read the wrong speech was quite shocking. It was not occasioned by the false claims of death threats. When that speech was read for the first time, the MDC MPs disdainfully heckled the President. One would expect more heckles this time around. Knowing the uncouth behaviour of the MDC MPs, that mix-up would not go without a jeer.

It is a sure case that the MDC MP did not also notice that President Mugabe was reading a wrong speech. They did not listen to the speech when it was read last month for they were seized with the barbaric heckling. To them, the speech was actually new. It was a blessing in disguise for them. Since these MPs did not also notice the anomaly, they are not qualified to remove a speck in the President's eyes.

If the MDC-T really thinks the President is too old to rule this country, then they must take that as an advantage to dislodge him in the 2018 elections. Honestly, a ‘senile and mentally incapable man' cannot pose a challenge to a young and energetic ‘boy' like Tsvangirai. We await to see how the race will come out in 2018.
 
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Tafara Shumba <tafieshumbaz@gmail.com