You are alone in the race PM

Others formed some supporters’ clubs that cheered the contestants. Supporters would run along with the competitors, rooting for them. Among the famous runners was the late Richard Dzobo, may his soul rest in peace. One event that my photographic memory still vividly recollects was a Sunday of the second week of March 1999. Sponsorship of the race had started to dwindle then, and the public interest that used to characterise this event was slowly petering out.

On this particular day, supporters cheered up Dzobo’s team, running along with it as usual. This continued for the first 9km. At the 10km peg, supporters gave up and so did other contestants, save for Dzobo. He kept on running like a wounded beast, oblivious to what was happening around him. Dzobo never bothered to look back to check if he was still with others. It was an embarrassment when he eventually discovered that he was running a one man race.

When the West bankrolled the launch of the MDC in 1999, there was much enthusiasm. Civil society organisations, labour movements, student bodies, religious organisations, inter alia, ganged up to rally behind the MDC. They were handsomely sponsored. This continued for nine years until these supporters began to realise that they were betting on an eternal loser. Even the sponsorship to this regime change agenda began to dwindle for the same reasons.

Most of the organisations that were formed to assist in the smuggling of MDC into State House are beginning to quit the race, one by one. Even members of the racing team are beginning to give up. The grave mistake that Tsvangirai is making is to avoid looking back to see if he is still with others in the race.

Mr Tsvangirai is alone in the race and he is fighting a lone battle that is destined for a dismal defeat. This is free and honest advice that Tsvangirai can choose to ignore at his peril. Tsvangirai’s local support base is on the wane. This was even confirmed in recent surveys conducted by Afrobarometer and Freedom House. Supporters lost confidence in him due to his undemocratic tendencies that saw him unilaterally extending his term of office in a bid to elbow out those who wanted to overtake him in the race.

The recent move to stifle the democratic process of primary elections further peeled away supporters from allegiance to Tsvangirai. His own lieutenants in the party are not yet ready for a new government under his stewardship. In that regard, a group of his party’s top leadership is working on a conspiracy to oust him at their next elective congress in 2016. Tsvangirai is aware of the project as he recently threatened to fire the protagonists of the project before they implement it in 2016.

The proponents of the project, which is code-named “Project 2016” do not want Tsvangirai to win the coming elections, although they will endorse him as the party’s presidential candidate. According to MDC-T’s constitution, if Tsvangirai does not win the coming elections, 2016 will mark the end of his political journey as the party’s leader. If he does not make it, this will pave a smooth way for Project 2016’s anointed presidential hopeful to take over the leadership of the party. Plans are afoot to forge a union between MDC-Ncube and the post-Tsvangirai MDC-T.

According to MDC-T insiders, if Tsvangirai wins the coming elections, he would be automatically nominated, at their congress in 2016, to run as the party’s candidate for another term, thereby pushing further away the dreams of Project 2016. Insiders said most of the top leadership including some from his kitchen cabinet, is amenable to this scheme. What it then means is that Tsvangirai’s own people do not want him to win the election.

Zimbabwean Diaspora, most of whom obtained dubious asylum status in foreign lands, do not want the MDC-T to win the coming elections. Their fear is that the MDC-T’s victory will see their asylum statuses being revoked and subsequently being ordered to come back home. Some of the Diasporans have nothing here to show, for the years that they have been slaving themselves in the foreign lands. These people prefer to have Tsvangirai as an opposition leader who continues to cause chaos, thereby giving credence to their stay in foreign lands. They bluntly revealed this to Tsvangirai when he recently appealed to them to come back home and vote for him.

Most of the civil society organisations will lose relevancy if Tsvangirai wins the coming elections. Most of them have been profiting from the political crisis in the country. If the MDC-T wins, the donors will stop sending money as their mission would have been accomplished. Once there is a new constitution, Lovemore Madhuku’s National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) will cease to be relevant.

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition will varnish into thin air as, according to the West, there would be no crisis to talk about. All the organisations that are involved in clandestine electoral activities will be thrown into oblivion. The Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that are using food as enticement to sway the electoral behaviour of the poor villagers will fall into redundancy.

All these people and organisations will rather have Tsvangirai as a perpetual opposition to safeguard their interests. Tsvangirai should, therefore, look back and take audit of what is happening around him, lest he runs a one man race.