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Morgan Tsvangirai

What is happening within the opposition camp must save as a lesson for the gullible followers. First and foremost, they must realise that leaders of opposition parties have no vision at all.

Tafara Shumba Correspondent
Once upon a time, there was one basket in Zimbabwe where everybody belonged.

That basket was zanu-pf.

It was one basket until zanu-pf started embarking on policies that sought to empower the black majority, who had endured economic subjugation for over a century.

The empowerment drive racked the nerves of the West whose citizens had hitherto enjoyed economic supremacy in Zimbabwe for over a century.

The quest for economic empowerment and liberation heralded the Western sponsorship of opposition politics in Zimbabwe.

It was then that a blind man from Buhera was selected by the West to lead the blind in a bid to safeguard imperialist interests.

A substantial number of credulous people were hoodwinked into joining the new self-serving party.

It all started as the MDC in 1999, a party that was infested with power-hungry people, who subsequently tore the party into various formations.

There was the MDC-Tsvangirai, the MDC-Mutambara, MDC-Ncube, MDC 99, MDC-Renewal Team and many other little MDCs that gave up the ghost in their conception. Very soon, it will be MDC-Khupe.

Every blind man within the leadership of the MDC, who thought he now had gained sight, led each new breakaway formation.

However, there is a big question to be answered.

Can the blind lead the blind?

It brings to mind a sad incident that took place while yours truly was a pedagogue at one of the remote schools in Manicaland.

Among the competitors in a 200-meter race was Edmore Gwizo, a mentally deranged but abundantly gifted athlete. May his soul rest in peace. He could undergo sudden mental lapses.

It so happened that while he was leading in a 200-meter race in an inter-school competition, Edmore went into his usual mental slip.

Instead of negotiating the corner at a 100m peg, Eddie, as he was affectionately called in sporting circles, proceeded into a nearby bush at a full speed. Surprisingly, those who were hot on his track just followed suit. It took the effort of the youthful teachers to chase after and hold back the pupils.

There are many in the MDC camps who are like those pupils who followed Eddie into the bush.

They blindly followed Tsvangirai who ran astray in 1999 and ended up in the bush called MDC.

He was all along in the right track, only to be seized by the mental lapse in 1998. Unfortunately, those who thought they had gained sight did not see the way back home. They continued to run astray save for the likes of Gabriel Chaibva and a horde of other ex-MDC supporters who are currently crossing the floor to zanu-pf.

What is happening within the opposition camp must save as a lesson for the gullible followers.

First and foremost, they must realise that leaders of opposition parties have no vision at all.

They are so blind that they cannot see anything beyond their noses. The opposition parties have no ideologies. It is so because they are just a creation of the West who want to safeguard their interests.

Opposition politics in Zimbabwe is just but self-serving projects for self-aggrandisement.

These leaders are not there to advance the interests of the general populace. Their four-year stint in the inclusive government testifies to this.

Tsvangirai and his lieutenants, who were seconded to government embarked on a self-enrichment drive.

Councillors suddenly became filthy rich while service delivery in urban areas took a nosedive. Ministers such as Tendai Biti, Elton Mangoma, Welsman Ncube and Tsvangirai himself were involved in grave vice that was meant to fatten their pockets.

Readers may remember the $1.5 million double dipping scandal involving Tsvangirai. It is too early to forget about the botched $5 million fuel deal that got Mangoma into trouble with the law. Mangoma is still being haunted by accusations of criminal abuse of public office arising from his directive to an accountant with the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company (ZETDC) to cancel a tender without following the correct procedures.

Dear readers must not forget about the Essar deal in which Professor Ncube was the frontman to facilitate the $750 million takeover of Ziscosteel by an Indian Company, Essar Africa Holdings. What of the $20 million IMF emergency package which mysteriously went missing in the custody of Biti.

All these shady dealings show that the men who masquerade as purveyors of democracy in Zimbabwe are just criminals who want to use politics to enrich themselves.

All the deals they were involved in were never meant to benefit the ordinary people in Zimbabwe the same way the land reform does.

Therefore, who do these people really serve? People must reflect on this reality. They must not be like a fly that follows a corpse into a grave. The opposition parties are now at the verge of falling into a grave and it is time for the followers to realise this and make a U-turn. They must let the leaders of the MDCs sink into political oblivion alone. This must be exhibited in the forthcoming by-elections. They must make a decisive statement in these by-elections.

If the opposition formations really wanted to depose the revolutionary party, they would bury the hatchets and join hands. This alone shows that the opposition leaders are power hungry and they will not cede power to anybody.

There was hype about the merging of MDCs led by Ncube and Biti. That unification died in its infancy. The two camps are accusing each other of negotiating in bad faith. The opposition camp is a collection of people with a hotchpotch of political ideologies. They are like oil and water, thus they cannot mix.

It was easy for zanu-pf and pf zapu to merge because of their ideological similarities. They were both revolutionary parties whose leaders subjected their personal interests to those of the masses.

One of the go-to analysts of the opposition media, a Pedzisai Ruhanya, commented recently that zanu-pf was purging its members because it did not bank on popularity but on other means.

No Pedzisai, zanu-pf does not rely on anything other than its popularity and mostly the dearth of opposition parties.