The Herald
November 18 2010
IT’S said miromo yevakuru haiwire pasi, literally, the wisdom of ages endures. To this end the characterisation of the three main political parties in Zimbabwe made by Chiefs Council president, Fortune Charumbira, was apt judging by events in the body politick.
Chief Charumbira, in his characteristic, hard-hitting Karanga dialect described the parties as follows: ‘‘Mazita ane zvaanoreva. Take Zanu-PF. There isZimbabwe Union , there is Patriotic and then there is Front, which was the name given to the line of defence in a liberated zone during the struggle. This was the same with Zapu which had Zimbabwe
‘‘Now come to the MDC. There is noZimbabwe Union , no Patriotism, and of course no Front for the defence of our country or the gains of independence.’’
The Chief went on to attribute the vagueness of the MDC’s full name to the fact that the party’s umbilical cord reposes in Whitehall, in the foggy isles; a development, analysts say explains why the same template used for Fredrick Chiluba’s Movement for Multi-party Democracy in Zambia, fitted the MDC in Zimbabwe and Kizza Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change in Uganda,
That MDC is a foreign-conceived, foreign-funded and foreign-driven political group is not a secret given that the Westminster Foundation admitted as much on its website, before removing the incriminating admission after Zanu-PF latched on to it.
That MDC is alien to many things that define us as a people distinct from others in the community of nations is also not a secret given the party leadership’s failure to pronounce themselves on progressive programmes like land reforms and the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive; all of which are geared at moving our independence from the political to the economic dimension.
At every opportunity we have seen MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai speaking againstZimbabwe
And only this past week, at a time when even our brothers and sisters in Sadc summoned theUS
Not coincidentally, ambassador toAustralia Zimbabwe
A week earlier, MDC-T legislators had disrupted a pre-budget consultative meeting inVictoria Falls after CZI boss Joseph Kanyekanye told delegates that economic sanctions had severely impacted on the economy.
That MDC-T leaders are greenhorns lacking both the temperament and deportment for national leadership was aptly shown by Ms Zwambila who is reported to have stripped to her underwear before three, shocked male embassy staff whom she accused of leaking information about the sanctions-denying website to The Herald.
How Zwambila believed she could hide information on the Internet defies logic but is a good pointer to what lies between her ears.
These are, by no means the only incidents that bid the MDC to do some serious soul-searching if it is to be considered a potential government in waiting.
For instance on September 11 this year, MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe, manhandled and slapped a cop at a roadblock near Zhombe Business Centre in theMidlands .
The cop’s crime: He insisted on searching vehicles in the MDC-T convoy that was on its way to Gokwe Centre for the party’s 11th anniversary celebrations. An infuriated Khupe is said to have disembarked from her vehicle, grabbed the hapless cop by the scruff of the neck before dragging him to her vehicle where she gave him a mouthful before slapping him
Not to be outdone, two weeks later, on September 25, the MDC-T legislator for Masvingo Urban, Tongai Matutu and his entourage allegedly beat up Chief Serima — Vengesayi Rushwaya — at Matizha Business Centre after the Chief admonished him for not greeting him as per tradition.
This is what the people have seen from the self-styled ‘‘party of excellence’’ over the past three months alone.
And throughout that time, their colleagues in Zanu-PF were speaking for Zimbabweans, campaigning against the sanctions, fighting westerners over Chiadzwa, consolidating land reforms, pushing forward the indigenisation and empowerment agenda, according chiefs the respect due to them to the extent that the chiefs are reported to have announced that President Mugabe should be president for life.
Add to that the different fortunes the two parties faced during the outreach programme for the new constitution due to the differential appeal of their talking points, and you have a situation where one party has increasingly alienated itself from the people while another has steadily worked to endear itself to the voters, who are the owners of the political process anyway.
Any wonder then that the self-fulfilling prophecies have already begun, manifest in the MDC-T’s campaign against the new constitution, threats of a no vote whose campaign sources say is already underway, and threats to boycott an election that is still to be called?
MDC-T leaders are already gripped by necrophilia, Chamisa has been claiming every dead body in town; every mugging, every rape will be politicized in a bid to discredit next year’s poll, which the MDC-T leadership rightly feels is bound to be theirWaterloo
But then don’t they know voters are like ladies, they need to be serenaded, they need to be wooed and they always go for the better charmer.
Isn’t it time ‘‘the party of excellence’’ told the nation its areas of excellence? Is it heckling, violence, stripping? People need to know.
MDC-T leaders must change their ways to become truly Zimbabwean, African, nationalistic and unifiers. Real democracy vests in empowering the people to be masters of their geo-polity and resources. Zita rine zvarinoreva.
caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw
IT’S said miromo yevakuru haiwire pasi, literally, the wisdom of ages endures. To this end the characterisation of the three main political parties in Zimbabwe made by Chiefs Council president, Fortune Charumbira, was apt judging by events in the body politick.
Chief Charumbira, in his characteristic, hard-hitting Karanga dialect described the parties as follows: ‘‘Mazita ane zvaanoreva. Take Zanu-PF. There is
‘‘Now come to the MDC. There is no
The Chief went on to attribute the vagueness of the MDC’s full name to the fact that the party’s umbilical cord reposes in Whitehall, in the foggy isles; a development, analysts say explains why the same template used for Fredrick Chiluba’s Movement for Multi-party Democracy in Zambia, fitted the MDC in Zimbabwe and Kizza Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change in Uganda,
That MDC is a foreign-conceived, foreign-funded and foreign-driven political group is not a secret given that the Westminster Foundation admitted as much on its website, before removing the incriminating admission after Zanu-PF latched on to it.
That MDC is alien to many things that define us as a people distinct from others in the community of nations is also not a secret given the party leadership’s failure to pronounce themselves on progressive programmes like land reforms and the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive; all of which are geared at moving our independence from the political to the economic dimension.
At every opportunity we have seen MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai speaking against
And only this past week, at a time when even our brothers and sisters in Sadc summoned the
Not coincidentally, ambassador to
A week earlier, MDC-T legislators had disrupted a pre-budget consultative meeting in
That MDC-T leaders are greenhorns lacking both the temperament and deportment for national leadership was aptly shown by Ms Zwambila who is reported to have stripped to her underwear before three, shocked male embassy staff whom she accused of leaking information about the sanctions-denying website to The Herald.
How Zwambila believed she could hide information on the Internet defies logic but is a good pointer to what lies between her ears.
These are, by no means the only incidents that bid the MDC to do some serious soul-searching if it is to be considered a potential government in waiting.
For instance on September 11 this year, MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe, manhandled and slapped a cop at a roadblock near Zhombe Business Centre in the
The cop’s crime: He insisted on searching vehicles in the MDC-T convoy that was on its way to Gokwe Centre for the party’s 11th anniversary celebrations. An infuriated Khupe is said to have disembarked from her vehicle, grabbed the hapless cop by the scruff of the neck before dragging him to her vehicle where she gave him a mouthful before slapping him
Not to be outdone, two weeks later, on September 25, the MDC-T legislator for Masvingo Urban, Tongai Matutu and his entourage allegedly beat up Chief Serima — Vengesayi Rushwaya — at Matizha Business Centre after the Chief admonished him for not greeting him as per tradition.
This is what the people have seen from the self-styled ‘‘party of excellence’’ over the past three months alone.
And throughout that time, their colleagues in Zanu-PF were speaking for Zimbabweans, campaigning against the sanctions, fighting westerners over Chiadzwa, consolidating land reforms, pushing forward the indigenisation and empowerment agenda, according chiefs the respect due to them to the extent that the chiefs are reported to have announced that President Mugabe should be president for life.
Add to that the different fortunes the two parties faced during the outreach programme for the new constitution due to the differential appeal of their talking points, and you have a situation where one party has increasingly alienated itself from the people while another has steadily worked to endear itself to the voters, who are the owners of the political process anyway.
Any wonder then that the self-fulfilling prophecies have already begun, manifest in the MDC-T’s campaign against the new constitution, threats of a no vote whose campaign sources say is already underway, and threats to boycott an election that is still to be called?
MDC-T leaders are already gripped by necrophilia, Chamisa has been claiming every dead body in town; every mugging, every rape will be politicized in a bid to discredit next year’s poll, which the MDC-T leadership rightly feels is bound to be their
But then don’t they know voters are like ladies, they need to be serenaded, they need to be wooed and they always go for the better charmer.
Isn’t it time ‘‘the party of excellence’’ told the nation its areas of excellence? Is it heckling, violence, stripping? People need to know.
MDC-T leaders must change their ways to become truly Zimbabwean, African, nationalistic and unifiers. Real democracy vests in empowering the people to be masters of their geo-polity and resources. Zita rine zvarinoreva.
caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw
