adminMicheal Mhlanga
Many if not all opposition parties in Zimbabwe behave like they are born out of mistakes or maybe they indeed are. The dearth of political grit, chastisement, and a well-grounded political ethos so much needed for a healthy democracy are a scarce resource which is leaving a trail of desperate followers stark mouthed as they are converted to mere spectators of an ever climaxing drama.
I could trace the history of our 37 years of political theatre but to cut the long story short let me remind you humble reader that “I once told you” in many of my articles, chief among the recent ones being “When Corrections fail”.
I told you how the MDC Alliance will not see the light of the day, I told you how Tsvangirai is recycled dead wood, I told you how desperate Prof Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti are through their off- calculations and I even reminded you that the opposition political culture of being circus kings and queens will not cede soon, as now, on Thursday a fresh treat for our eyes and ears was served.
We groomed it, it’s our baby
From 2005 when MDC refused to display its “democratic change” people were slow to see that. No one bothered to rethink and check if the ethos preached were observed. Reasoning was absolved into a rhetoric of popular anger which did not untangle anything for the common man but better the lives of the few leaders who first benefited from donor funding to the Parliamentary and council perks they ceremonially relished.
A quick scan at most of the so called social democracy giants reveals how their lives rapidly changed with most of them owning businesses and properties which today demand cash if not a higher price for bond notes.
The public did not bother to ridicule a trend of dictatorship and skirmishes shown when Professor Welshman and Gibson Sibanda expelled Morgan Tsvangirai for his tyranny but he instead expelled them and they went on to form MDC after a wrangle of the name with Welshman Ncube assuming the green colour and the palm with Morgan Tsvangirai retaining red and adding his face inside the palm.
The public did not worry then because Morgan and Tendai were successful at dogmatising and painting Ncube and Sibanda as tribalists who wanted to derail the “train of change” whose progress was imminent, I wonder where that imminence is.
We never dared to remind Tendai Biti in 2014 that what happens to Dube can also happen to Phiri when he expelled Morgan Tsvangirai, only for Morgan to expel Tendai Biti who first formed MDC Renewal then left and formed PDP.
Ingaqhob’ithambo iyajayela
Not so long ago we were treated to a cuisine of sprouts of political parties, some manned by one person claiming to have followers never seen by anyone except themselves.
At one point someone who was angry after being fired formed what he called ViVa Zimbabwe and thought a sex tape would get him a swarm, little did the chap know how Zimbabweans are.
Today he is as quiet as a church mouse, we only see him on Promise Mkhwananzi’s profile pictures sharing lighter moments — the fate of the dejected and rejected, they smile out of shame drowning sorrow and shame in memories of yesteryear glories.
Again, we were silent when Zimbabwe People First then commanded by Joice Mujuru with the advice of Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa, all democratically rejected by Zanu-PF expelled each other. We watched in awe, confused at what politics had in store for us.
It was a good morning when the two men were waiting for the “Queen Bee” yet she addressed a press conference that the two, including some emaciates, had been expelled, only to be treated to a dessert of confusion later in the afternoon that it was in fact her who was expelled.
We were left to wonder if democracy entails waking up in the morning and deciding to expel each other without the pronouncement of the majority. It indeed dawned that the common man is just but political currency for the game of thrones.
The Moyo Declaration
Flash forward — on Thursday 28 September 2017 in Bulawayo, according to Jacob Mafume — at Samuel Sipepa Nkomo’s House, somewhere in Bulawayo in a not-so-leafy suburb, a press conference was held. For those of you who do not understand the irony of the press conference venue using Mafume’s lens, here it goes: Dr. Samuel Sipepa Nkomo left MDC-T with Tendai Biti in 2014, they together formed MDC Renewal which they abandoned together and formed PDP which he left and joined ZimPF and left with Runaida to form NPP.
He is a deserter, popular for leaving parties and in this case a press conference of expelling the man he once left with Tsvangirai; the man he left Tsvangirai with; the President of the party he left last year, was held at his house, what a dramatic turn of events, if I could describe this political twist in IsiNdebele I would say “yibo ubumbulu lobu”.
The Moyo Declaration was heralded by Gorden Moyo who installed Lucia Matibenga as the new President of the party, I am certain that after the scramble of the name the Moyo acolytes might find themselves with a new name, as it the case of those who expel first — Joice — ended as NPP, Prof Ncube although he claims he retained the name ended with MDC which is green, Tendai ended with renewal then PDP so now we wait for the new name.
It did not take long for Jacob Mufume the spokesperson of PDP who is part of the expelled to respond and nullify the Moyo Declaration as a regionalist and tribal fuelled motive meant to derail progress. He denounces the expulsion because:
1: It was twenty people who decided it hence it’s illegitimate for them to expel 10 people. So if democracy is about majority then who is the majority?
2: It happened in Bulawayo, Bulawayo is not a headquarters of anything political therefore they will not recognise that.
3: It is Gorden Moyo, from Bulawayo who convened a General Council in Bulawayo so its tribal and regionalist so they will not recognise that, but is Lucia Matibenga from Bulawayo? Isn’t Kucaca Phulu from Bulawayo but was expelled? How then is it a tribal move if that is the case? Who is tribal now? Doesn’t Jacob see that he is the one dealing the devil’s hand and labelling others yet he is the one who is a tribalist?
4: Because it happened at Dr. Nkomo’s house so it cannot be justified to be a PDP project. Well, let’s leave the character of the old Dr out and ignore the venue true or not although the official press conference wasn’t there, at least according to what I know, but focus on the reason cited of the expulsion.
The ten did not consult the General Council in joining the Alliance but decided in Harare and still joined it anyway, wouldn’t Gorden Moyo and company be justified to de-legitimise a decision made by the few which doesn’t represent the will of the majority?
5: The general Council is to held on Friday 29 September so all along they did not know that there will be a General Council in Bulawayo, even their stooges did not tell them that 20 important people in their executive will meet in Bulawayo?
Who is a tribalist in Zimbabwe?
So I humbly ask, why is it that every time in opposition politics when it’s someone from Bulawayo who dissents they are called tribalists, but if it’s someone from elsewhere we term it “difference of political opinion”? We find it easy to play a socially deconstructive card which is rapturing our society daily just to politically survive. I know that politics is about numbers but when your conscience finds it sufficient that you quickly label someone a tribalist because they belong to a perceived minority group for political expediency then we should be assured that you are the one with a staid problem.
It is the same sentiments we heard when Thokozani Khupe and Lovemore Moyo were attacked in their Bulawayo offices, they were labelled tribalists because the meeting was in Bulawayo and unfortunately they are of Matebele origin.
If we are to heal Zimbabwe through politics, we need to cease raising the ethnic card whenever we are desperate for political expediency.
It hurts the society more than corruption itself. In any attempts of uniting a surely disintegrating society, other avenues confirm stereotypes which bleed the nation. We are building a cycle of denouncing tribalism on paper and actively celebrating it verbally as if we denounce it.
That is exactly what Jacob Mafume displayed. When we label each other tribalists because they made a decision outside our region of origin and because they have a different totem we are worse than Rhodesian racists because we are fueling Africa’s biggest scourge — tribalism which has led to massive genocides in post independent Africa.
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