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Isdore Guvamombe Reflections
Back in the village. In the land of milk, honey and dust or Guruve it is an inconsequential fallacy to expect honey from a fly, for, all you can expect is the fetid stuff. During the run-up to the 2013 elections, our ears were bombarded by the manifesto of some awkward and clueless MDC-T that they had come up with JUICE, some extremely fetid liquid political concoction.

The smelly stuff could not be sold to Zimbabweans who showed their displeasure at the toxic political brew by resoundingly voting for Zanu-PF. Do village elders with cotton tuft hair not say, it is not with saying, “Honey,” “Honey,” that sweetness comes into the mouth?

After the 2013 dazzling defeat, Morgan Tsvangirai retreated into his cocoon, from where infighting resulted in a break-up with Tendai Biti. And, Biti, was honest enough to admit that MDC-T had sold nothing tangible to the people of Zimbabwe except the foul-smelling JUICE.

Of late, Tsvangirai is back on the talk show, clearly after a lengthy fight with the lethargy of losing the election but not yet fully recovered from record-breaking defeat. And, and, as usual, he has started thinking nonsense and talking nonsense.

His rally in Harare and the subsequent calls for mass demonstrations should be read and taken as nothing but a foolish attempt to repackage the foul-smelling JUICE, this time disguised as people’s issues. Tsvangirai’s idea of trying to render this country ungovernable through street protests is archaic, suicidal and an affront to the failure by the MDC-T led municipalities to provide services to the people.

Harare, for example, is littered with potholes, street lights are not working, raw sewer is flowing into homes and there is no water for the residents and yet, instead of leading by example through the councils controlled by MDC-T, Tsvangirai thinks about silly things.

Will street demonstrations bring service delivery to Harare? Can Tsvangirai explain why the MDC-T-led Chitungwiza council brought service delivery to its knees? The municipalities collect revenue from residents and are pocketing the cash at the expense of service delivery.

Back in the village, Karitundundu the ageless autochthon of wisdom and knowledge, says he who talks incessantly, talks nonsense. While it is permissible in politics to seek relevance at every opportunity, this villager thinks by now Tsvangirai should have learnt that politics of street protests and demonstrations is no longer fashionable and does not bring results. It is the ballot that now holds sway.

He should, by now learnt (only that he is not gifted with learning) that he will not convince the people of Zimbabwe that he can regenerate himself and present himself as an astute politician.

Surely, we are not gullible to the point of thinking that Tsvangirai has changed from that Euro-centric politician, an eccentric puppet of the west, who flip-flops on major policy issues with no footing of his own, to suddenly become the messiah of this country.

We have not yet lost our minds to the point where we will leave our farms, leave our indigenous business ventures or abandon our vending markets, among other chores, to join Tsvangirai on the streets so that he becomes president of Zimbabwe.

That Tsvangirai is a tired and expired political brand is no longer questionable. That Tsvangirai has forever kept his mind shut and his mouth open is also no longer subject for discussion. Neither is the fact that the rabid donors have also gotten tired of sponsoring his futile campaigns.

Instead of preoccupying himself with calling for President Mugabe to resign, Tsvangirai should resign himself, for all and sundry in the relevant original party structures have many times called him to do so.

Who should resign, the one whose political message is liquid, sweet and loved by the people to the point of a resounding victory or the one whose smelly juice, sends people vomiting and swearing?

If Zimbabweans loved Tsvangirai’s Juice, they would by now have voted out Zanu-PF.

But they saw its colour, tasted it and vomited. We will not expect honey from a fly. Never!