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Morgan Tsvangirai

Benny Tsododo Correspondent
For a long period, the world has witnessed governments getting into power through elections while some people have undemocratically wormed their way to power through coups or uprisings.
While elections have generally resulted in peace, the same cannot be said about violent uprisings.
The wave of violence brought about by the so-called Arab Spring has left many countries in desolation.

In Libya and Syria, the so-called Arab Spring degenerated into civil wars that have resulted in deaths and displacement of millions of people.
Mindful of these events, this article seeks to relate current calls for civil disobedience by MDC-T leaders to global trends and in the process unmask the folly of using mass uprisings to upstage governments.

After carefully following three consecutive MDC-T rallies held in previous weeks, I was left convinced that the opposition party is consciously trying to circumvent the democratic route of elections and push for the undemocratic removal of Government from power through mass uprisings.

Senior MDC-T officials who addressed these rallies implored their supporters to cut short the constitutional life of the current Government.
During a rally held on Africa Day at Zimbabwe Grounds, the MDC-T’s prodigal son, Job Sikhala, made it clear that Zimbabweans should not allow President Robert Mugabe another day in office.

Job Sikhala

In his rather unguarded style, Sikhala as has become his norm at all other rallies, harangued MDC-T supporters to rise up against Government saying this would be the panacea to their perceived problems.

Before that, there was another rally held by the MDC-T in Glen View on May 18, 2014, where another senior official of the party, Tapiwa Mashakada, exhorted supporters to upstage Government from power.

Mashakada told the supporters that; “We should not remain calm if we don’t want ZANU PF to rule until next elections in 2018. What should we do? We should not remain silent. We must voice our concerns by demonstrating our anger”.

The MDC-T also demonstrated that its options are open to military mutiny.
While addressing a rally in Norton on May 11, 2014, the MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, could not hide his deep-seated wish for a military rebellion.

In a bid to indirectly incite the security forces into rebellion, Tsvangirai said; “There will come a time the soldiers, police and civilians will say let’s march against Mugabe, let’s march for food, the day will come and they know that.”

The MDC-T’s penchant to use violence and other undemocratic shenanigans to get into power has not only been exhibited against external parties but also to internal foes. Instead of acceding to a peaceful proposal for leadership renewal by the MDC-T deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma, Tsvangirai and his cohorts decided to be violent.

For his troubles, Mangoma was left nursing a bloodied nose and sewing his tattered white shirt.
The same violent backlash was unleashed on any MDC-T supporter suspected of supporting the leadership renewal cause.

At all the MDC-T rallies, those suspected of supporting the Mangoma proposal are manhandled and pummelled into signing an oath of allegiance to Tsvangirai.
Even the old and frail MDC-T members like Sekai Holland and her Guardian Council are not spared.

The use of violence and other undemocratic means have always been in the DNA of the MDC-T.
Its history is littered with futile attempts to stoke flames of instability in Zimbabwe.

On many occasions, the MDC-T has tried to incite workers into civil disobedience by calling for ill-fated boycotts, mass actions and the notorious ‘final pushes’.
The party has presided over the burning of ZUPCO buses, bombing of police stations and the severe battering of its political opponents.

All this promotion of undemocratic political tactics is happening at a time the world is providing simple lessons on the folly of using violence and other undemocratic means to get into power.

Who cannot see that the mass uprising in Syria has evolved into a civil war that has reduced that country to primordial ruins and has displaced a large portion of the population?

Which Zimbabwean could in his/her right senses wish for the destruction, killings and displacements taking place in Syria?
In Libya, the same gory pictures of uprising-inspired unrest, civil war and killings also appear.

Even those countries such as the United States that formerly provided financial and material support for the uprising are rattled by the level of instability and have put in motion plans to evacuate their citizens from the war-torn country as there is no longer any safety to human life.

In Thailand, a long-drawn mass demonstration recently ended in a military coup.
On the fateful day, Thailand woke up to a military coup that saw political leaders from the warring parties being detained and the country plunged into military governance of decrees and curfews.

Thailand is not the only country that saw an uprising turn into a military coup.
Egypt also suffered the same fate when the military in that country usurped power from civil authorities after a hard fought uprising resulted in unresolved instability.

The question that arises then is which Zimbabwean would like to live in a military state as witnessed in Thailand and Egypt?
Notably, the internal use of violence and other undemocratic tactics by Tsvangirai to retain power has been in vain and has left the party more fragmented and paddling towards the precipice of political oblivion.

One then wonders why politicians in the MDC-T are intractably intent on pushing for uprisings, military mutiny and other civil disobediences despite the world providing such a disconcerting picture of the dangers of such civil and military disobedience.

However, what is clear is that the MDC-T leaders are an imperceptive and dim witted lot.
Just as they are failing to see the futility of the use of violence to retain power in their party, they are also blind to lessons on the murderous ramifications of using undemocratic means to get into power in other countries.

It is even more ironic that a party that claims to have democratic credentials is calling for the undemocratic removal of Government from power.
The MDC-T leaders should be patient and wait for the democratic platform of 2018 elections to compete for power.