Zimpapers Logo

emotional conflicts and human tensions; in spite of the penalty of success and the dread of failure; in spite of tears and feverish gaiety — this is the only life that I know. It is the life I love”.

Apparently, as President Mugabe was off to Kenya to join other African Union leaders at the inauguration of President Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Tsvangirai was also off to London on what was described as a “private visit”, as his Kenyan compatriot — Raila Odinga — also flew out to South Africa on a ‘‘private visit’’.

But, the private visit has seen him giving interviews to major media houses, CNN included. I watched and listened to Mr Tsvangirai’s interview with Becky, and thanks to the technologies of power, I had several opportunities of replaying the 5 minutes 30 seconds video clip on YouTube.

After the much-lauded conclusion of the referendum on the draft constitution, I did not expect what I saw. Maybe I’m too naïve.
The interview it seems was meant to give Tsvangirai an opportunity to explain to the “international” community what life has been like in the inclusive Government, a power sharing arrangement which he chose to describe as a “marriage of convenience”. This was indicative that he wanted out. Both partners are fed up with each other. In a court of law, divorce would be granted on grounds of irreconcilable differences.

My own reading was that PM Tsvangirai did not think that Becky would give background information on this “marriage of convenience” dating back to the war of liberation, Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, with “guerrilla leader Robert Mugabe” becoming its founding leader.

She added, “Among Mugabe’s early and ardent supporters is Morgan Tsvangirai, ambitious union leader who has since become his fiercest rival, leading strikes and forming his own political party.”

They also gave him time to play the democracy and people sing-song. The narrative adds, “During his bid for the presidency in 2002, Tsvangirai was accused of treason in a suspected attempt to assassinate Mugabe but was later acquitted.”

They also play a clip from that period when Tsvangirai defended the Ari Ben Menashe saga thus, “It was not Morgan Tsvangirai who was on trial, it was democracy and the freedoms of the people of Zimbabwe”, blah, blah, blah…

Contrary to previous reports on the 2008 poll results, Becky said, Tsvangirai “claimed victory of the majority vote over Mugabe,” and had another clip on the run-off poll. “We in the MDC have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimately (sic) sham of an electoral process,” said Tsvangirai.

Claiming victory and being declared winner by those designated to oversee the conduct of elections are two different matters. Having a majority votes over President Mugabe in the first round, which were not 50 percent plus one, meant that the two leading contenders had to go a for run-off poll.

As if you are watching a theatre of the absurd, Becky concludes her background information with the fact that in the end, there was a compromise, “Mugabe remained President, and Tsvangirai was declared Prime Minister, a power-sharing agreement that is to say the least, uneasy.”

With terms like “marriage of convenience, guerrilla leader Robert Mugabe; Tsvangirai claimed victory; Mugabe remained President, and Tsvangirai was declared Prime Minister”, my gut feeling told me that this was not going to be an easy interview for Tsvangirai, and that if anything, this would be an interview announcing that the chickens have come home to roost.

Sad isn’t it that he had to fly all the way to London to be told that you are no longer fit for the project. We need new people, new blood to fight and remove President Mugabe from power.
I also asked myself, whether this was an ill-timed private visit. They probably asked him about Baroness Thatcher, or they might not have. What difference did it make, except that the background information was supposed to give the MDC-T leader a clue that the “guerrilla leader Robert Mugabe” worked with the late Lady Thatcher and other leaders of the liberation struggle to facilitate Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980.

This is also why I feel that it was a theatre of the absurd, for Becky does not mince her words in the actual interview, as you feel every piercing word.
The CNN and not newspapers under the Zimpapers stable said it on Tuesday. Becky remarked, “Many people I speak to in Zimbabwe, with respect, are frankly fed up with your leadership. (Wow!)

“They say that you have compromised the power sharing agreement. There are stories about your social life. There are stories about your finances and they go as far as saying that you have legitimised Robert Mugabe. Does your MDC party and you still have any teeth? (Wow again!) . . . They don’t want to see your social life and your finances making headlines . . . For so many years people in Zimbabwe and outside relied on you as the official opposition figure who might be able to take Mugabe down. Do you still think you are in a position to do that or is it now time for a new generation of Zimbabwean leaders?”

There is some fire fighting already because Becky Anderson was just so live and direct. You don’t need a rocket scientist to tell you that in so short a manner, you have been shown the way out.

Tsvangirai can speak about roadmaps and benchmarks, but the very people that created that image are now pulling it down, and he did not even see that. For, it was CNN then that had footage of Tsvangirai receiving financial support (those cheques) from white commercial farmers after the formation of the Movement of Democratic Change. Seems so long ago, but they said it so bluntly, people are frankly fed up with your (Tsvangirai’s) leadership.

When it’s payback time, it can be that cruel and painful. All those accolades are struck off in a matter of seconds. But, Becky was just doing her job, just like all the reporters of the past who gave those rave reviews.
Tsvangirai concludes by saying that Zimbabwe is “a country worth fighting for”. Fighting whom? Fighting President Mugabe or fighting the people by making ridiculous claims about human rights abuses?

The MDC-T leader could not challenge Becky’s assertions about the “many people I speak to in Zimbabwe, with respect, are frankly fed up with your leadership”; the stories about his social life and his finances.

To make matters worse, Becky makes these comments after Tsvangirai had just given what he believed was the best shot on why he entered the marriage of convenience: “It was a bleak situation. And I think what was important at that stage was to intervene and save the country. So, what were the objectives? Firstly to contain the hyperinflation and stabilise the economy; second, to give the reforms that are necessary to carry out free and fair elections. And thirdly, to intervene in social sectors like water, sanitation, education and health. On those three benchmarks I can tell you, anyone can confirm that things are much better than they were in 2008.”

I beg your pardon Mister Prime Minister. You will soon seek a mandate from the people, but what is the state of the social services sector: water and sanitation, health and education? The portfolio ministries in charge of these areas are under the MDC-T.

Water has become a scarce commodity nationwide, triggering water borne diseases such as typhoid, dysentery and cholera. Are all school-going children attending school? Are all people able to access decent health care services, and who is paying for those services?

Prime Minister Tsvangirai should have known that soon and very soon, he would be asked to account for his actions through poignant questions like, “Do you still think you are in a position to do that (remove President Mugabe and Zanu-PF from power) or is it now time for a new generation of Zimbabwean leaders?”
These are some of the vicissitudes of life. If Tsvangirai walked a million miles to where he is today, he has to realise that there is still another million more miles to walk into the future.

If the men and women who fought for the country’s independence did that, let’s see whether Zimbabwe is really worth fighting for, and who the protagonists will be. I might still have missed an even bigger picture in the illegal regime change agenda, but for now, I believe that it has sobered up some people and their wild expectations.
And lest they forget, “Zimbabwe will never be a colony again!”