Survey results, Zanu-PF’s call to action NUMBERS DO NOT LIE . . . President Mugabe and First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe arrive at the National Sports Stadium for Independence Day celebrations in this file picture
NUMBERS DO NOT LIE . . . President Mugabe and First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe arrive at the National Sports Stadium for Independence Day celebrations in this file picture

NUMBERS DO NOT LIE . . . President Mugabe and First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe arrive at the National Sports Stadium for Independence Day celebrations in this file picture

Takunda Maodza Assistant News Editor

The message from the MPOI survey is clear — Zanu-PF remains appealing as the masses religiously support the party. It is time for purposive action so that the party continues to bring more smiles in every home.

I SPOKE to MDC-T spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu yesterday noon. The Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) survey results were the subject of our discussion. MPOI on Wednesday announced that from its survey, if Zimbabwe was to hold another national election today, President Mugabe and Zanu-PF would slay Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T for the umpteenth time since the West gave birth to the political outfit in September 1999.

This is definitely sad news for Mr Tsvangirai, coming two years before the 2018 national polls.

Mr Gutu battled to hide this sadness yesterday as we digested the MPOI survey results.

It is this sadness that probably eclipsed his senses. On a normal day, he is quite an intelligent chap.

MDC-T, through Mr Gutu, dismissed the MPOI findings, as has become the norm with the opposition party.

Not only did Mr Gutu dismiss the findings, he branded anyone believing in the magnetic effect of President Mugabe on the electorate, insane.

Mr Gutu said they are mad! I will allow Mr Gutu to speak for himself.

“For anyone in her or his sound or sober senses to say Mugabe is popular in Zimbabwe, with respect, they would have taken leave of their senses. We are actually the largest and most popular political party in Zimbabwe. Morgan Tsvangirai is the most popular politician in Zimbabwe,” he said.

Having dismissed the MPOI results, Mr Gutu ironically then picked on one element of the survey and rode long on it. The fear factor!

Mr Gutu said it was important to note that the MPOI in its findings acknowledged that Zimbabweans feared President Mugabe and were a fearful people afraid to freely air their views to strangers like MPOI.

“This is a very unique kind of survey. People are fearful of Zanu-PF and Mugabe,” remarked Mr Gutu oblivious to the irony of accepting what he had earlier tried to trash!

Is it obvious rage that made Mr Gutu forgetful? We have a secret ballot in Zimbabwe where one’s vote is his or her secret.

Also to note from Mr Gutu’s remarks is the continued spirit of denial within the MDC-T. So strong is this spirit it would require our esteemed men of spirit to exorcise it! Before the country held the July 2013, harmonised elections, a number of such surveys were carried out and still pointed to the same direction — a massive win for President Mugabe and Zanu-PF. Anyway, slow learners always grasp things at a snail speed!

I leave the crybabies and attempt to interpret the MPOI findings. Two things immediately emerge that a witty opposition political party would dare not ignore especially as it comes two years before another election.

These are the insignificance of the departure, rather dismissal, of Dr Joice Mujuru from Zanu-PF and the absence of factionalism in Zanu-PF, contrary to assertions from some quarters disguised as privately owned media.

The MPOI findings plant Dr Mujuru third.

I mean behind Mr Tsvangirai, he himself the object of Zanu-PF defeat since 1999 when he undressed his labour union jacket for the political one! That says a lot about the significance, or lack of it, of Dr Mujuru today in the Zimbabwean body politic. It probably explains why the loser and the waiting to lose — Tsvangirai and Mujuru — are vainly making frantic efforts to coalesce, but melt before intercourse.

While it is obvious one plus one gives two, the answer is not so obvious if Tsvangirai and Mujuru were to unionise.

The MPOI survey results expose yet another fact. Factions exist in the opposition and not in Zanu-PF as has been forever depicted by the privately owned media.

This fact was reinforced recently by Gorden Moyo, a former senior official within the MDC-T, now with Tendai Biti’s People’s Democratic Party. Moyo placed it on record that “the opposition is heavily fragmented, factionalised and factoralised” to mount any serious challenge to Zanu-PF come 2018.

Someone asked me yesterday, “Cde did you see the MPOI survey results? Zanu-PF still very strong,” boasted the Zanu-PF man.

But what should the MPOI results mean to Zanu-PF? Simple, those masses who gave you the mandate to lead them in 2013 still have faith in your abilities. The findings are worth a glass of whisky but it is not time to rest in glee.

To remain on top means working even harder towards fulfilment of that which Zanu-PF promised to deliver when the masses ushered it yet again into office in 2013.

The goals of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) have to be achieved. The comrades in the party should not get their eyes off the ball as they merry-make.

It is time for Zanu-PF to consolidate the gains through hard work. If people that participated in the MPOI survey gave President Mugabe a 71 percent hard working mark, 22 percent more than Tsvangirai, is it not advisable for the other comrades in Zanu-PF to work equally harder and drive food to the masses’ table?

Is it not also time Zanu-PF officials move in unison and cease making conflicting statements on key national issues as this amounts to arming an enemy too weak to stand a fight?

The message from the MPOI survey is clear — Zanu-PF remains appealing as the masses religiously support the party. It is time for purposive action so that the party continues to bring more smiles to every home.

This is only possible if Zanu-PF footballers keep their eyes on the ball — the economy, the economy, the economy!

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