Morgan Tsvangirai: Stepping down now is not an option

IT IS A PLATITUDE INGRAINED in the biblical doctrine times that where there's no vision the people perish. It will be a travesty of justice for President Morgan Tsvangirai to step down before he bankrolls his vision for Zimbabwe. The president has come a long way and we have engraved in our hearts the sacrifices that have been made thus far. Morgan Tsvangirai is a resilient visionary who has walked a journey and a path that no other person has walked and came out alive. He is the biblical Daniel in the lions den, he is the Daniel in the pit of fire, and he is the Messiah for the people of Zimbabwe.

Lest we forget the horrific flee-and-fear Elections of June 2000, winning the June 2000 Election petitions in High Court where the elections were certified to be a flee-and-fear affair instead of being free-and-fair, the bloodshed 2002 Presidential Elections, the assassination plot by Zanu Pf to eliminate the president that ended up eliminating Susan who was his dear rock and pillar of support and the Ari Ben Menashe set up. The man has received knocks where it hurts the most, but for the trophy prize of Zimbabwe's freedom, he has sacrificed his freedom.

It needs no rocket scientist to comprehend that the end times are near for Zanu Pf. It is common knowledge that Robert Mugabe and his dead wooded Zanu Pf have routinely shown a leadership and political deficiency that has been demonstrable, discernible and openly abused his position. They have lost it all, and that nationalistic vision with a redeeming capacity to rally Zimbabweans across the political divide around a common cause with inter-generational value has been reduced to nothing but just another dream.

Instead of improving from the colonizers, Zanu Pf has thus far proven to be a pathetic vision-less and opaque non-regime-change and non-succession-seeking occult group driven by multi-unaccountable individuals who are so self labeled and so-called comrades and liberators.

Zanu Pf and Robert Mugabe are totally propelled by Grace Mugabe and supervised by a self-indulgent and toothless politburo committee whose combined numbers have in turn proven to be clue-less, frolicsome, impish, Machiavellian, criminal, aberrant, shifty and illusory all rolled into one in the misplaced name of making a new democratic Zimbabwe under the cover of a ‘we have liberated you theme' that has since expired.

If the idea that every dog has its day is indeed true, then the day has come for Zanu Pf and Robert Mugabe to be parked. The quintessence of the current problem might be that Zanu Pf has ‘Chelsea parked' the bus in a case which required parallel or alley-docking. Anyways the parked bus at Stamford Bridge belonged to Didier Drogba; Chelsea this season has been leaking goals.

Robert Mugabe as an old limping donkey's personal and final moment of natural arithmetic beckons, and so as his discredited think empty-tanks who are now better known as drifting comrades who are neither re-drafting nor panel beating the already discredited and un-panel-beatable economic and social crisis of Zimbabwe. All they do is to continue manipulating the system for their own personal benefit.

From as late as 1999, it is very worrying that the "vision thing" is so lacking from the policy architecture that it took MDC-T and Morgan Tsvangira as the political principal in the GPA to seriously consider and un-parked the contentious national issues that have retarded the nation. Morgan Tsvangirai's exercise parked the inflation and violence to pave the way for an economy boost and general elections of 2013.


A few years ago we lost one of Zimbabwe's political literary giants, Professor John Makumbe. Our sadness at his passing is tempered only by the great political literature and wisdom that he bequeathed us. Professor Makumbe and Prof taught us a powerful lesson unlike his counterpart Professor Lovemore Madhuku.

From Professor Makumbe's averments, we picked up that we cannot situate and deposit any culpability on a faceless and mystifying system for the social, economic and political tribulations in society. It is Zanu Pf and Robert Mugabe who perpetrates wrongs against the citizens, the opposition and it is the sane and crafty Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T who have the human power to correct these socio-econo-politico misgivings of Zanu Pf and Robert Mugabe. Cry my beloved Zimbabwe.

As a nation we would do well to pay attention to this lesson as we debate the embarrassing exploits of Zanu Pf and Robert Mugabe; especially the repeated speech of the State of the Nation address by the elder statesman in the legislature. It is of paramount importance to take cognizance of these lessons because if we are to ensue as anticipated and expected as a nation, we need to launch a strong stench in believing in the power of human agency.

We need to resurrect the school of thought that the involuntary choices that Zanu Pf made for the nation, and the actions we take as a nation, matter. The nation has been involuntarily forced to accept the leadership of Robert Mugabe and Zanu Pf, but we have a choice of accepting or revoking such loathsome and despicable frog marching by Zanu Pf's nonconformist unorthodox dissidents and guerillas marauding as saints!

Arise Zimbabwe Arise!

It is true that the uneven legacy of corruption, selfishness and nepotism system by Robert Mugabe and Zanu Pf weighs heavy on Zimbabwe. It is a fact that those outside of Zanu Pf still do not have the same opportunities as those who bootlick Robert and Grace. This is an ultimate human tragedy that nobody in this Zimbabwe should ever accept.

Much has been said and less has been done to redress the past, make no mistake. Life in Zimbabwe today is certainly shoddier than it was during the white minority regime rule. Robert Mugabe's catastrophic ruling has relegated the Zimbabwean child to being as inferior citizen in his motherland. As Zimbabweans we need to hold ourselves to a much higher standard than that.

With a quick wire transfer as a reward, I would put my head on the block to premeditate my demise and eliminate those who are holding the citizens of Zimbabwe at a ransom. Brave faces are in dire need; I raise my hand and declare that I am available for such nippy sniper call of duty.

As a country, across race and political divide we need to become the nation that President Morgan Tsvangirai during the tripartite government helped us believe we could become. A place of anticipation, expectation, opulence, prosperity, selfless leadership and mutual respect.

And so the question we must ask today is: what is holding us back from achieving Morgan Tsvangirai's vision for Zimbabwe?

Without giving and airing out many clues, there are rotten forces within MDC-T who have been benefiting heavily from setting up traps and pushing for resolutions that derail the people's movement. Some are happy to be in the opposition as they are on the Zanu Pf pay roll. No names mentioned! But not for long though. The factional politics have all been about the general secretary and the vice-president positions!

Zanu Pf has laid blame on the letter W on the compass. It has blamed the global financial system that happened in 2011 for its shortcoming of 2000. They have even blamed Morgan Tsvangirai for the current drought.

But in our hearts, we know what the problem is. We have allowed those in clout and authority to become superior and bigger than our institutions, flouting and breaching them down splinter by splinter. We have accepted and tolerated one commanding man to get away with too much for too long. This man is old and grey and needs to retire by fire by force. Robert Mugabe has broken and sucked Zimbabwe dry.

Using the words of President Musi Maimane of the Democratic Alliance in reference to President Jacob Zuma, Robert Mugabe is broken man, presiding over a broken society. Robert Mugabe has done everything and anything to break every democratic institution to try and fix the legal, social, economic and political predicament he found himself in. Robert Mugabe is not an honourable man and using his name in the same line with ‘honourable' is treasonous and punishable hanging.

Robert Mugabe has continuously celeripedeanously evaded accountability for the Gukurahundi wrongs that he spearheaded. People's freedom to associate and communicate is always violated by an order to jam the gatherings. The illegal and unconstitutional POSA Act does not give the police powers to decide on a gathering, but requires that the police be notified; but the Zanu Pf controlled police has always assumed and acted out of jurisdiction and mandate as it has been deciding where it should never do so

This and many other unconstitutional Acts are an assault on the very foundations of our democracy. The august house's constitutional obligation to fearlessly scrutinize and oversee the Executive and Judiciary lost all meaning a long time ago. The monster Zanu Pf force won by sending threats to those belonging to the opposition in Parliament. And the hearts of our nation broke. We knew, at that very moment, that our democratic order was in grave danger. When the law makers kept mum, Robert Mugabe read the cold and empty words from his prepared text that he had read a few weeks back in the august house.

Cry my beloved country for they were indeed the words of a broken man, presiding over a broken society.

As a norm of every tyrant's path of destruction, lies a litany of kaput and out of order institutions. Each one of them targeted of course because of their constitutional power to hold him to account.

A broken ZRP (Zimbabwe Republic Police) which only arrests those in the opposition, A broken Judiciary system, that will never have any prosecution of the president, without fear or favour.
Zimbabwe has been turned into a corrupt power house and abuse of authority does not stop at the door of the State House or the Jongwe-Shake-Shake House. The corruption, nepotism and power abuse is happening at every level. The lack of inta alia water, electricity in is not a system failure, but it is a failure of Zanu Pf politicians to put the people first. In this Zimbabwe, service delivery has come to a standstill as Zanu Pf comrades wage a factional war over access to the spoils of corrupt power. As the war rages on, rubbish piles up in the streets, sewage pipes continue to leak, and the taps run dry.

Load-shedding is a crisis that has led to an economic shutdown. The nation has been without a stable electricity supply, manufacturers cannot produce, investors are driven away and jobs are lost. In Zimbabwe we have ceased to talk about unemployment rate as no one is employed at all. The government is actually drafting legislation to veto the use of electric gysers! This will be a first. At first we were banned from meeting without notifying the police, the media was banned from speaking ill of Robert Mugabe, and very soon under Zanu Pf, breathing will be illegal in Zimbabwe.

Robert Mugabe and Zanu Pf promised 2 million jobs to Zimbabweans in 2013 Elections and in a predictable set of unfolding events, more than 2 million jobs have been lost to date. These are the circumstances of our conked out society, battling under the weigh down of unemployment, crime, power cuts, and an unequal education method.

The Future Obligation of MDC-T:

As MDC-T we have an obligation to future generations of Zimbabwe to make sure we continue the fight for a Zanu Pf free society, where there will be EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL!

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL to live a better life, and where the rights and freedoms granted to us by the Constitution are protected. But Zanu Pf has made decisions not to align all the Acts in accordance with the Constitution. Zanu Pf doesn't know what needs to be done to keep the lights on. As long as Zanu Pf is in charge they will act to prevent any meaningful contributions by the opposition and any other constructive stakeholders.

As MDC-T we have an educational policy that will put Zimbabwe back on the international standards. We have an equal education system, where schools are properly resourced, teachers are well-trained, and well paid. There are many hard-working educators out there, but Robert Mugabe has ignored the need to remunerate the teachers when they do hard work.

As MDC-T we believe it is possible for entrepreneurs to flourish, with an economy that has a potential to grow and creating millions of jobs, hence creating EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL.

But the Zanu Pf and uncle Mugabe's ideas are stale.

We as MDC-T, we have an economic infrastructural policy that will turn around the lives of Zimbabwe and pave way for EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL.

Unlike Savior Kasukuwere who monopolized the funds which were meant for youths, as MDC-T we have policies that are there to fund start-ups for the youths. There is a long term plan to rollout opportunity hubs where information, guidance and support is readily available. We need a real youth subsidy that will benefit even the smallest of businesses.

Under the leadership and guidance of Morgan Tsvangirai we as MDC-T believe it is possible for Zimbabwe to be a place where the boulevard is out of harm's way and the neighborhood is a healthy place to raise families, and where the police officers are properly managed and trained to do their work as peace officers other than being peddlers of Zanu Pf and Robert Mugabe. Our programmes and policies will lead to EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL.

But while our community is being over-run by corruption and nepotism, Robert Mugabe has never said anything about eradicating crime and nepotism! Where are the specialized anti-corruption units? Corruption, crime and nepotism has quintupled and reached athanasy levels over the past ten years Zanu Pf. No one trusts the police, and as long as Zanu Pf is in power, the police service will never have its integrity restored: if ever it has to, it needs to start with the national police commissioner of course.
Our Judiciary system must be led by people who are committed to fairness and justice, and free from interference from Zanu Pf. A lot of decisions have been going against the MDC-T as Zanu Pf is in charge. Enough is enough and the MDC-T is here to change all this mess that Robert Mugabe has planted in Zimbabwe.

The MDC-T strongly believes it is possible to realize a vision of Zimbabwe where every effort is made to redress the legacy of Robert Mugabe through an audit land reform programme that truly benefits those who were denied access to land, and that which will address cases of those who have acquired more farms that are being idle, and will also address issues where some displaced citizens for purposes of having retirement game park village. Under MDC-T, there will be a fair distribution of the land and every citizen will be entitled to EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES.

Millions of hectares of fertile soil in commercial land areas must be unlocked from Zanu Pf for reform purposes. The land that is in the hands of government officials' hands must be fully audited and used to fast-track redistribution to deserving beneficiaries of Zimbabwe, not those of Chinese accent. There is a need to re-invite real commercial farmers and make them equip small scale farmers. In addition to this, farm workers must become farm-owners in partnership with commercial farmers. But of course as MDC-T we are of the sound and sober opinion that Zanu Pf and Robert Mugabe will not allow such reforms to happen.

The Morgan Tsvangirai has bold reforms that go to the heart of the problems of Zimbabwe and the MDC-T will meaningfully redress the legacy of restricted access to land. All what Zanu Pf has achieved is to break its own records of corruption, nepotism and this has rightfully so killed investments and jobs.

In the perspectives of Zanu Pf change may seem slow, but it is coming. There is a wave of change that is slowly sweeping up this broken man and his Zanu Pf out of power. Already as the MDC-T, we have already started fixing this broken society, and give a gratis rein that will run riot to the full latent of Zimbabwe.

In conclusion the MDC-T under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai will toil within the foundations of egalitarianism to hold this government to account, and we will go on with creating OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL in our governance. We will work tirelessly to build a truly democratic alternative in Zimbabwe.

We will reinstate clout to our populace and equip them with EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL.

To Honourable Thamsanqa Mahlangu, the founding member of MDC-T we say to you may your soul rest in peace, and may the MDC-T family and the Mahlangu families be comforted at this difficult and emotionally draining time!

To Itai Dzamara we remain dumb found!
Till we meet again…

Free Zimbabwe, Mugabe and Zanu Pf Must Go!
President Morgan Tsvangirai is the ultimate solution to the problems of Zimbabwe that emanated from the incapacity of Zanu Pf.
Vote MDC-T where there are Equal Opportunities for All!
Morgan Tsvangirai the President in waiting!
MDC-T stands for EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL!

Ntate Moruti Chadya Tapiwa Diamond is a former student leader, Father, a Legal Practitioner, a Lecturer, a Researcher, a Political Analyst-cum-Activist and is also the director of Information and Publicity in the South African Youth Assembly of the Morgan Tsvangirai led Movement for Democratic Change. Diamond is a man after God's heart like King David and serves as a resident Jnr. Pastor in the House of the Lord at Light House Ministries in Gauteng. He read law the University of KwaZulu Natal and is Researching towards an LLM. He concomitantly lives in the Natal Midlands and Johannesburg. He can be contacted on 27 (0)84 566 2756 or email him at diamondtapiwa@gmail.com,or twitter @mantronieqscie or like Tapiwa Diamond Chadya on facebook. He writes in his own personal capacity.