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Nicole Hondo
MORGAN Richard Tsvangirai never ceases to amaze, unfortunately I don’t mean that in the complimentary way.
A recent perusal of his much hyped script, Personal Reflections, which is nothing more than an image revamp attempt on the part of his spin doctors, left me more convinced that the MDC-T leader will do all it takes to cling to power, even if it means making personal delusions public. To give his public relations team their due, the document’s release is timely and strategic, given the challenge to Tsvangirai’s throne by Biti and company, his much publicised sexual misdemeanours and the impending MDC-T October congress where Tsvangirai expects to retain his leadership.
After going through the document, what I found disturbing was that even when he reflects, the man still lies to himself and to the general public! When someone “reflects” on his life, we would expect that individual to face his demons and acknowledge his faults and seek ways to correct them. Alas, that concept is lost on Tsvangirai as he instead seeks to present himself as the victim (nothing new there) and blames everyone else but himself for the confusion and anarchy that has dogged his political career.
At the start of his narrative, if it can be attributed to him, Tsvangirai claims that “mammoth” crowds that gathered at his rallies during the election campaign period, especially the one they dubbed the “crossover rally”, motivated them to take part in elections when they knew the process was flawed. That alone displays Tsvangirai’s perennial naivete in the game of politics. To rely solely on the numbers that turn up for your rallies is akin to shooting oneself in the foot. Everyone knows that people will not miss a chance to get freebies, be it at roadshows, rallies or concerts. While his opponents were busy getting their supporters registered to vote and embarking on door to door campaigns, Tsvangirai allowed himself to be mesmerised by the seas of red that surrounded him forgetting that that same sea of red could be a sea of green or orange the following day. It was a “crossover” rally alright, a crossover to Zanu-PF!
“On September 3, 2013, I began a national conversation with the people of Zimbabwe. I have travelled across the length and breadth of our nation, engaging in dialogue with people from all walks of life and holding rallies that attracted multitudes,” Tsvangirai writes. I found this statement a bit too self-martyring on his part as he attempts to portray himself as a man of the people. I also found it ironic that Tsvangirai claims he “held dialogue” with people from all walks of life when his rallies were characterised by him lambasting the Renewal group and calling on supporters to ignore them. A dialogue involves the exchange of ideas between people and that is definitely not what Tsvangirai had.
His rallies that he now attempts to sell as out-reach missions were nothing more than campaign gimmicks to gauge his support and strengthen his brand that has been weakened by the Renewal Team’s challenge. It’s also funny that Tsvangirai has no problem holding “dialogues” with everyone else but the key people in his party who sought to engage him to present their concerns on his leadership. It’s apparent that the only dialogue Tsvangirai permits is one in which he talks and the other party listens and offers no criticism.
Tsvangirai even had the temerity to accuse President Mugabe of being “closeted” at State House and being out of touch with reality. Last time I checked, the President was not under house arrest so I cannot make head or tail of Tsvangirai’s accusations. Perhaps I shouldn’t blame him much as he may be unaware of the workings at State House.
On the issue of women, the man has no shame. Instead of apologising for acting like an oversexed teenager, Tsvangirai chose to do what he does best – blame everything and everyone else but himself. The phrase “my assumed weakness with women” really got to me. Assumed? It has been proven over and over again that the man has problems keeping his zip shut!
He attributes his bed-hopping to an emotional roller coaster he was involuntarily thrown onto by the death of his first wife Susan. That’s really lame, in my opinion, even for a man of Tsvangirai’s IQ. If all men dealt with grief by having unprotected sex with everything in skirts, the country’s population would have quadrupled by now. And the fact that he shamelessly chooses to lie that all his affairs came about after the death of Susan is really an insult to the people’s intelligence. What of his mistress Josephine Chibale with whom he has children who are over 20 years old?
Tsvangirai boldly declares, “I have since moved on and now share a commitment with my wife, Elizabeth.” I have a sneaky suspicion that this statement will come back and bite him in the not-so-distant future.
I really could not help but laugh, literally, when Tsvangirai talked of “being laden with the burden of national responsibility to address an intricate national crisis.” When has he ever ruled the country that he would be saddled with this responsibility? If it is the inclusive Government which he refers to, I do not see how he could have failed to cope given that there were other parties in the government, unless of course he is a weakling who cowers at the slightest demand for mental dexterity.
The ability to own up to one’s mistakes is the mark of a true leader, a trait that Tsvangirai obviously still lacks.
The epitome of Tsvangirai’s insincerity as revealed in the document is the way he goes to town preaching about how he values dialogue and reconciliation as well as peaceful co-existence. This from a man who stood by and watched as party hoodlums beat up a fellow member, indeed someone who is rumoured to be unleashing violent thugs and ordering violent seizures of party property.
How can Tsvangirai talk of national reconciliation, dialogue and peaceful co-existence when he has failed to facilitate such in his own party? Charity begins at home, does it not?
He also talks of policy consistency at a time when he is busy realigning his party’s constitution to suit his own selfish desires and promises a corruption-free government when money donated to the party through their EcoCash facility is rumoured to be lining the pockets of party bigwigs instead of going to party coffers.
In conclusion, while I applaud Tsvangirai’s PR team for giving us yet another gimmick to invigorate our brain cells and get a good laugh, Tsvangirai himself should not take the electorate for granted by continuously trying to sell them varnished and spruced up versions of himself.
• The writer can be contacted at [email protected]
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