Zimpapers Logo

Morgan Tsvangirai

Philemon Mutedzi Correspondent
Election season always comes with all sorts of political stunts by political players, all in a bid to either sway the vote in their favour, or as in the case with MDC-T, to justify its perennial losses in elections.

Traditionally, MDC-T as the main opposition player, has over the years employed underhand methods to portray a picture of an uneven political playing field.

Over the years, that party has always had a penchant to stage abductions, instigate the employment of minimum force by the police by unlawfully provoking law enforcement agents, feigning political beatings, as well as alleged intimidation by zanu-pf supporters, all in a bid to project a hostile political environment ahead of regional and international summits and of course, elections.

True to that tried-and-tested strategy, MDC-T has of late upped the ante in its futile pursuit of electoral reforms ahead of the 2018 harmonised elections.

First, it was the curious story of the MDC-T Isuzu truck that was torched ostensibly by unknown assailants at a car park in Kuwadzana in the wee hours of July 13, 2017.

Inexplicably, the car was surprisingly burnt everywhere else except where the MDC-T logo and name were inscribed.

In addition, the plastic bumper on the Isuzu miraculously survived the inferno, which the party alleges was perpetrated by zanu-pf arsonists.

Wait a minute; to put matters into perspective, the arson case coincided with the flopped MDC-T Youth Assembly demonstration the previous day on July 12, 2017, which was thwarted by anti-riot police when they clamped down on the violent and poorly subscribed demonstration.

It is evident that MDC-T burnt the car in the dead of night to invite sympathy and international attention.

The ill-thought out ploy was exposed when the party immediately started soliciting for donations to replace the car.

Fast forward to July 19, 2017, Dandaro Bar belonging to MDC-T vice president Elias Mudzuri, located in the Workington industrial area in Harare, was razed to the ground.

True to its familiar modus operandi, MDC-T pointed accusing fingers at zanu-pf, with spurious allegations that eyewitnesses saw six armed men in a Mazda twin cab without number plates leaving Dandaro Bar before it was burnt.

Nobody has bothered to check whether the grass-thatched bar where patrons’ braai stands are situated or an electrical fault could have caused the fire.

Barely a week later, Zimbabweans woke up to allegations that the homestead of Nyachuru kraal head, Tendayi Nyachuru, who is purportedly an MDC-T supporter, was reportedly razed to the ground by zanu-pf supporters on July 25, 2017.

The thread is familiar, as immediately after the alleged arson case, his cell number was circulated on social media, asking well-wishers to assist him financially.

The story sounds spurious given that the alleged assailants remain anonymous, yet they are alleged to be zanu-pf supporters.

Violence is a vice that cannot be condoned. We all have a role to curb it, learning from the late Vice President and national hero John Nkomo, who coined the phrase “peace begins with you, peace begins with me, peace begins with all of us”.

On July 21 2017, President Mugabe railed against the Children of Zimbabwe War Veterans Association (Cozwa) led by one Munyaradzi Shoko during the Matabeleland North Youth Interface rally in Lupane for fomenting violence in the name of the First Lady, Amai Dr Grace Mugabe.

That is a sign of a sincere party and leadership.

It is thus shocking that the same zanu-pf can be accused of involvement in abominable acts of arson and violence. The fact that the current violence narrative being alleged visited only one political party, the MDC-T, in a country with more than 56 opposition political parties, is instructive.

It is a pointer to some well-calculated scheme to besmirch the country’s electoral atmosphere ahead of the 2018 harmonised elections.

MDC-T is aware of the inevitable defeat that awaits it in 2018, with or without the much-touted opposition grand coalition.

Its former director of administration, Toendepi Shonhe, Afrobarometer, Mass Public Opinion Institute, (MPOI), and of late, political scientist Prof Eldred Masunungure, have all predicted a resounding victory for zanu-pf in 2018, hence the fervent stunts by MDC-T to portray an electoral field fraught with violence and intimidation.

MDC-T’s shenanigans are not lost on all discerning and well-meaning Zimbabweans, who see through the folly of the violence charade being orchestrated by the troubled party.

Zimbabweans are alive to this ruse by MDC-T.

It is a no-brainer that the only way that the MDC-T can ever hope to upstage zanu-pf in an election is if it changes its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, its electoral tactics and neo-liberal ideology, which is manifestly divorced from the pro-people policies that zanu-pf pursues.