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THE MDC-T leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, has hinted that his party might participate in the forthcoming by-election to fill Gweru’s Ward eight seat left vacant after the death of Councillor Artwell Mutyorauta.
Although it is not yet clear whether the MDC-T will only take part in the Gweru by-election, indications are that, the flip-flop on the election boycott policy is wholesale. The MDC-T is likely to take part in all by-elections to be held henceforth. So Mr Tsvangirai has made a statement that the MDC-T will be in the race come 2018.
The issue of participating in elections has been dogging the MDC-T since its formation in 1999. There was an irreparable crack in the party in 2005 after the after they failed to agree on their participation in the senate elections. The decision to consider rescinding congress resolution on shunning elections came after Gweru mayor, Councillor Patrick Kombayi beseeched Mr Tsvangirai to allow the party to field a candidate in the forthcoming by-election to avoid donating the seat to Zanu-PF.
Clr Kombayi’s entreaty for permission to participate in the by-election only saves to show that the decision to boycott elections was in the first place unilaterally made. No consultation was done prior to making that imprudent decision. Thus, that decision had no buy in from the majority of the MDC-T stakeholders, or is stockholders.
It was also a microcosmic request, one that is shared by the generality of the MDC-T supporters. The booming endorsement that the Kombayi’s plea received from MDC-T Midlands supporters was quite revealing. The MDC-T cohorts have made a bold statement which Mr Tsvangirai and his national executive council cannot afford to discount. Those people want to participate in elections.
However, Mr Tsvangirai must be primed for some million dollar questions as people will definitely demand to know the exceptionality and importance of that particular ward to force an overturning of a policy adopted by the congress. This will be more so after the election boycott policy has already resulted in the dwindling of the MDC-T numbers in parliament last year.
Mr Tsvangirai recalled 21 legislators that included the then powerful secretary general, Mr Tendai Biti from parliament. However, he went on to boycott the same by-elections he had caused, a move that many viewed as a sheer donation of seats to Zanu-PF. As a result of that foolhardy decision, the MDC-T voice in parliament is now always drowned.
The MDC-T took a decision to boycott elections citing alleged uneven playground. They went to an extent of crafting nicely worded policy positions to dignify their reckless decision. They crafted the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) and Without Reforms, No Elections (WReNe) to push for the so-called electoral reforms.
However, the playground is still the same. Zanu-PF Government has not moved an inch to accommodate the electoral demands that the West advanced through the MDC-T.
The real reason that triggered the decision to boycott election was the thumping that the MDC-T received in the hands of Zanu-PF in the historic July 2013 harmonised elections.
The MDC-T got a mere 34 percent seats against Zanu-PF’s 61 percent. The boycott decision was expediently taken on to save the party from further embarrassment. It wanted to leave people believing their despicable propaganda of electoral fraud.
So what has really changed in the political playfield that has motivated the MDC-T to give it a trial once more? Has Zanu-PF implemented all the electoral reforms they have been demanding? Has Zanu-PF promised them that they will not rig this time around? The mass demonstration staged recently in Harare gave the MDC-T the impetus to take a stab at the ballot box again. The demonstration was seen by the MDC-T as the most successful protest ever staged by that party.
An MDC-T estimate of the people who turned up for the demonstration was over 8 000 and so was that of its sympathisers. That of Zanu-PF and the State media was around 800. What a discrepancy! However, independent players like the BBC, which are usually generous on such ballpark figures, put it at 2 000.
By believing those manufactured figures, the MDC-T is merely believing in its own propaganda. In any case, Mr Tsvangirai must not fool himself and think that all those who marched with him are his supporters. Some were just wailing up
It is this warped assessment of the demonstration that has given Mr Tsvangirai the Dutch courage to take an electoral trial once more. He has not only promised to join the race but to go it alone.
All the negotiations of a possible grand coalition with other political parties have been held in abeyance. He wants everybody to join his ‘big tent’ and if it is possible, he would even want Zanu-PF to join him. This is another classical example of flip-flopping. One day Mr Tsvangirai tells the world that they are in negotiations for a coalition and the next day the negotiations are held up.
The likes of Mr Themba Mliswa, a directionless Zanu-PF outcast, are also responsible for buoying up Mr Tsvangirai with new false hope of winning an election.
Mr Mliswa has been in the media for the umpteenth time touting Mr Tsvangirai as the real deal with capacity to dethrone President Mugabe and Zanu-PF from power.
But Mr Tsvangirai must assess the situation on the ground himself. The Zimbabwe National Students Unions (ZINASU), a long time MDC-T ally, recently took a dig at Tsvangirai whom they advised to back off ZINASU. This statement came after Mr Tsvangirai attempted to cajole students to join his demonstrations and treating the student body as an extension of his party. He was even barred from addressing students at Chinhoyi University of Technology.
So which popularity is Mr Tsvangirai banking on? He must hold up and see similar gatherings from other parties. It is only then that he will be in a position to weigh his popularity efficiently.
Online Reporter