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The violence, which must be roundly and vehemently condemned by all sane persons, now needs an honest approach beyond the usual blame game. It’s disturbing that a whole spokesperson of the main opposition party chooses to downplay the battering of leaders of his party for political expediency. When Elton Mangoma and Promise Mkwananzi were attacked by the party’s ruffians, Douglas Mwonzora rushed to lay blame on Zanu-PF.
Although it is his duty to spruce up the soiled image of his distressed party, he should do it in a manner that does not erode his credibility.
Even a Grade 1 pupil can see through the senseless defence that Mwonzora attempts to sell. The hoodlums who battered Mangoma were part of the youths addressed by Morgan Tsvangirai at Harvest House after a meeting with the chairpersons of the district assemblies. These are the people that Mwonzora wants us to believe were Zanu-PF youths.
Mwonzora used the same threadbare defence mechanism when Tendai Biti’s house was petrol bombed last week. Mwonzora said the attack bore the fingerprints of Zanu-PF. On the day of shame that Mangoma was attacked, Biti narrowly escaped the savage attack because he left Harvest House clutching onto Tsvangirai’s jacket. It becomes apparent that since these thugs had unfinished business with Biti, they resorted to bombing him in the dark hours.
In his lame excuse, Mwonzora said, “This bomb attack is very much similar to the attack on Hon Biti’s house sometime in 2011 when he was accused of various offences by members of Zanu-PF.”
Mwonzora seems to imply that one is attacked only after having been accused of various offences first. In which case we all know where a volley of accusations against Biti and Mangoma were coming from. Zanu-PF has no beef with the MDC-T’s secretary general. Those who have lately accused Biti of attempting to dethrone Tsvangirai, Mwonzora’s ‘god’, are responsible for the attack.
If Zanu-PF wanted to weaken the MDC-T, as Mwonzora wants people to believe, it would go for Tsvangirai himself as he is the face of the beleaguered party. However, expending energy on the MDC-T is tantamount to flogging a dying horse. It would be imprudent of Zanu-PF to court unnecessary avenging spirits by finishing off an already dying person.
MDC-T is no longer a real threat to Zanu PF following its unprecedented thrashing in the July 31 elections, more so given internal squabbles that are threatening to split it. Zanu-PF cannot lose sleep over a party whose support is alarmingly dwindling. The revolutionary party is seized with fulfilling its election promises. Therefore, implicating Zanu-PF in these feuds is a diversionary tactic meant to divert focus from real bread and butter issues that endear it to the people.
Mwonzora must draw a line between a politician and a lawyer. The latter, which Mwonzora is, will defend someone even when it is blatantly clear that he has committed an offence. In politics, you sometimes gain mileage by admitting where you are at fault. Zanu-PF has done that in the corruption exposes.
Everybody in Zanu-PF including President Mugabe has denounced the perpetrators of corruption notwithstanding their political affiliation. They did not justify corruption on the basis that MDC-T officials perpetrated the most grievous corruption in the past. Although it is true, Zanu PF understands that the blame game will not root out the scourge.
If it were MDC-T, Mwonzora, and Luke Tamborinyoka in particular, would have laid the blame on Zanu-PF. In the same spirit, these two spokesmen must understand that blaming Zanu-PF for their party’s internal dissensions will never bring peace to their party.
Tamborinyoka said President Mugabe must not be annoyed by their intra-party violence because he also masterminded Gukurahundi.
Tamborinyoka must be reminded that President Mugabe is not the president of Zanu-PF only but of the whole country including Tamborinyoka and his master. In view of that, it is within his constitutional mandate to ensure that peace prevails. He cannot fold his hands while peace is threatened by thugs at Harvest House.
It’s known that Tamborinyoka is earmarked for the post of director of information but that does not give him licence for excessive bootlicking. Harping on the imagined Zanu-PF violence will not remove the etched violence tag on his party.
What is even more disgusting is that Mwonzora had the temerity to offer himself as a defence lawyer for the louts. This clearly shows that Mwonzora endorses the use of violence. While it is understood that Mwonzora has fallen on hard times following his exit from parliament, at least conscience must convict him.
Online Reporter