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MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai is a narcissist politician. He admires himself so much. He thinks opposition politics in Zimbabwe started with him and will end with him. He does not think anyone must challenge him on that.
There was talk of an opposition coalition to challenge Zanu-PF towards the July 31, 2013, elections. Tsvangirai and his lieutenants made it a point that they prepared the ground that only he was the presidential candidate to represent them if the alliance was formed. It failed to garner the necessary support. Only inconsequential politicians Simba Makoni and his Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn movement and Reketayi Semwayo and a Zanu-Ndonga faction he led agreed to campaign under the Tsvangirai-led coalition.
Politicians of comparatively better standing but also who are negligible on the national political landscape, Professor Welshman Ncube’s MDC and Dumiso Dabengwa’s Zapu snubbed the united front call. They, in fact, structured theirs that focused on Matabeleland.
Three main reasons led to the failure of the Tsvangirai plan in 2013 and could stand in the way of any future efforts towards that goal — differences on who was to lead it, personal issues and a little ideological disagreements.
Tsvangirai’s paternalistic streak over the coalition came out again last week and the response he attracted from his opposition colleagues makes it highly unlikely that it will ever materialise.
“All progressive forces must come together and remove the Mugabe regime,” Tsvangirai told his supporters in Binga and Hwange last week. “I know there are some who are headstrong who want to be presidents of small political parties. I will rather be president of the whole movement poised to remove Zanu-PF than of a small party.”
He has declared himself leader of the coalition which has not been consummated and that is the greatest undoing for his proposal. How does Tsvangirai hope to gain the support of fellow opposition actors who are equally entitled to their own ambitions and want an open, democratic contest to leading the coalition?
The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), MDC and Renewal Team promptly told him they were not interested in entering a framework in which the hierarchy is pre-arranged.
“As the NCA,” said Prof Madhuku, “we are clearly and unequivocally running away from that kind of politics. We do not accept the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai. He has done his part and if that coalition is only about removing (President Robert) Mugabe, we cannot be part of it. Removing (President) Mugabe is not an economic policy. We can only be part of a coalition that ensures that the welfare of our people is improved by an economic policy. Any grand coalition involving Tsvangirai would be like going 100 years back into history.”
Renewal’s Jacob Mafume said: “He (Tsvangirai) should come with an open mind otherwise he is leading himself to nowhere.”
Kurauone Chihwayi, MDC spokesman said: “We are talking about non-violent political parties, non-corrupt political parties whose leaders do not have bed hopping credentials. If Tsvangirai thinks we should support him to get into power, then he should rule us out of those people who believe he is the face of opposition in this country. He should not expect us to knock on his door. We say no, thank you.”
We cannot rule out anything really at this stage but our understanding of the deep-seated personality differences in opposition ranks makes it unlikely that they will ever coalesce around anyone, least of all Tsvangirai.
He has created many enemies in opposition circles. He uses violence to suppress internal dissent. He is full of himself yet his colleagues have a low opinion of him for his poor grasp of the more substantive issues and his history of failure.
Tsvangirai hired youths to beat up Prof Ncube and Trudy Stevenson, precipitating the first split of the MDC in 2005. He did the same on Elton Mangoma and Tendai Biti in January 2014. He has lost elections since 2000.
We especially agree with Prof Madhuku when he says Tsvangirai’s Mugabe-must-go mantra cannot be a basis for forging a viable coalition without agreeing on critical policy positions.
That is why the electorate has rejected that brand of politics that is more concerned about positions, hollow rhetoric and not meaningful alternative policies to take the country forward. They ask what guarantees the opposition can give that they would be different from the government of the day. The Mugabe-must-go mantra does not answer this question satisfactorily, so the people have reached a stage where they trust Zanu-PF and have refrained from seeking to undertake electoral experiments that could set them on a path to ruin.
Online Reporter