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Susan Chipanga Correspondent
Zimbabwe opposition parties are in a crisis. None of the available political leaders inspire confidence in the voters. The recent survey results by Afrobarometer that people no longer have confidence in the opposition parties confirmed the open secret which was apparent in the 2013 drubbing of the MDC- T party at the polls.

No doubt opposition parties in the country wish the country were like Nigeria where an opposition political party exploited the Boko Haram menace and convinced the populace to vote for it and emerged as winners. The opposition in Zimbabwe, even with the economic downturn due to sanctions, which they ironically called for, are still failing to do the Nigerian opposition feat. Unfortunately, for those dreamers that reality will remain a far-fetched dream as Zimbabwe has no opposition leader who can challenge Cde Mugabe and win an election.

The Afrobarometer report has thus further dashed the dreams to ashes as their results have shown that the majority of Zimbabwean voters have indeed lost confidence in opposition parties and have now shifted their allegiance to the ruling Zanu-PF.

Since the height of opposition politics in 2008 when Tsvangirai had a near miss, there has been downhill decline of opposition political parties’ fortunes at unprecedented levels. It’s sad that Morgan Tsvangirai is still in denial that any talk of elections gives him panic attacks to the extent of unilaterally bullying his hapless party not to participate in any election until the supposed “electoral reforms” are made.

Christopher Dell rightly summed up Tsvangirai’s ineptitude, when Wiki- Leaks quoted him as saying the man is “a flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with question- able judgment”. The chickens are coming home to roost, his political bubble burst is now pushing his funders, the West, to think twice about pouring their millions into the bottomless pit that is Tsvangirai and his party.

Reports are now making the rounds that those funders are now calling for Tsvangirai to deputise Mujuru if ever he is going to get any dime from them again.

The “death” of opposition political parties does not mean regime change pundits have throw in the towel, no. New subtle ways are still being mooted and put into motion. What better way than to destroy Zanu-PF from within. This was tried in the 2008 presidential elections through Simba Makoni but proved to be a dismal failure. Makoni is a broken man right now because of that plan that went awry and has not been able to revive his waning political career.

Mai Mujuru is another character being touted as the favourite to fill the opposition vacuum as per the daily song of her foot soldiers, Rugare Gumbo, Didymus Mutasa and the rabid private media.

Even the grand opposition coalition being mooted as the panacea to removing President Mugabe from power in 2018 is doomed from the start. How does a coalition composed of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn led by Simba Makoni, the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai; ZAPU headed by Dumiso Dabengwa, and Lovemore Madhuku’s National Constitutional Assembly ever come to fruition? These are power hungry and narcissistic individuals who can’t go past their own imagined self-importance for them to consider choosing one amongst them to lead the coalition.

Zimbabweans have been once bitten and are now twice shy, hence the Afrobarometer survey that opposition politics no longer has takers is very true and should scuttle any plans of a grand coalition whose partakers are labouring under the assumption that President Mugabe is now down and out.

Interesting statistics from the survey which said “he (Mugabe) enjoys greater support in his traditional stronghold, the rural areas where 70 percent trust him while he only enjoys 45 percent trust of the urban people. By gender, 62 percent of males trust him, while he is trusted by 64 percent of the women. An additional statistic is that 54 percent of Zimbabweans trust the ruling party, Zanu-PF”. Numbers do not lie.

The opposition political parties lost their way a long time ago and Zimbabwean voters are only confirming a truth which has eluded these shadow chasers. Maybe they should listen to prophecy more. The renowned Nigerian prophet TB Joshua once told Tsvangirai that he would never rule this country. It’s only wise for the rest to visit the man of God and get their similar prophecies.