Zimpapers Logo

Morgan Tsvangirai

Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
A few weeks ago Zimbabwe was told of something called a coalition of 18 political parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda.

Among the few parties under Nera are MDC-T, ZimPF and Zapu.

The rest of the parties are not even worth mentioning.

As expected, when such a thing happens in the opposition ranks, the private media should celebrate and offer maximum coverage.

Soon after its launch, Nera was popularised as a new dawn in Zimbabwe’s politics.

The private owned media projected Nera as a perfect checkmate for Zanu-PF ahead of the 2018 elections.

After receiving such vaunted publicity, it was now time for Nera to play its part of the bargain in equal measure.

The outfit responded by way of engaging in lawlessness to justify its existence and the massive media publicity it received from the gullible and usually blinkered private media.

In Harare, the group burnt vehicles whilst in other towns such as Bulawayo they were involved in illegal demonstrations.

Shadowy groups such as #Tajamuka and #Thisflag also showed up in vain attempt to destabilise the country.

Desperate efforts were made to nationalise the drama beyond Harare and Bulawayo’s juristic borders to create the impression that Zimbabwe was now in a state of emergency.

The ultimate objective was to draw the attention of the international community — the West in particular.

Unfortunately Zimbabwe’s masses showed them the middle finger and Nera’s machinations came to naught.

In the face of the supposed threat, Zanu-PF remained unfazed although 2018 is just some moons from now.

The only logical explanation for the coolness by Zanu-PF is that the revolutionary party studied this imagined bull in the ring and discovered that it has plastic horns.

With all due respect, Nera is a useless outfit and is threatening Zanu-PF with feathery horns.

President Mugabe at some point highlighted that the coming together of Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T) and Dr Joice Mujuru (ZimPF) was a multiplication of zeroes because it amounted to nothing.

This was not a joke or a simple way of dismissing opposition politicians and other like minded charlatans.

A simple analysis of political parties constituting Nera and their leaders helps to explain Zanu-PF’s reaction.

The names in this coalition are not new politicians in opposition ranks except for Dr Mujuru who is still a virgin rat daring to swim. Tsvangirai is a long time opposition leader who has tasted defeat countless times.

Joice Mujuru

His party has participated in all elections since 2000 until recently when it boycotted by-elections under the pretext that the playing field is not even.

Surprisingly, his party actively participated in the processes that culminated in the current electoral set up under the new Constitution of Zimbabwe.

It’s not even necessary to remind people that as we approach 2018, Mr Tsvangirai is under the weather battling the vagaries of nature.

There is also Dr Mujuru in the equation whose political influence is overrated.

Though she is yet to break the hymen of opposition politics, her ineptitude as a national leader is a matter of public record.

Dr Mujuru served as Vice President and Zanu-PF’s Second Secretary for 10 years before she was unceremoniously chucked out of the party.

During those 10 years she served as VP, she never demonstrated any leadership potential.

All she did was to ride on the back of President Mugabe’s policies and acumen.

A short comparison with her successor Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa exposes her as one of the worst Vice Presidents Zimbabwe ever had.

During his short stint as VP, Cde Mnangagwa has championed several Government programmes beneficial to the populace.

The latest being the Command Agriculture programme which is aimed at restoring the country’s breadbasket status.

Dr Mujuru can only be remembered for her shady deals with some Emirs and Sultans from the Middle East which now form part of her disputed estate with some of her late husband General Solomon Mujuru’s children.

She is one politician who has been luck in life — thanks to President Mugabe’s benevolence.

However, she is one person whom Zimbabweans cannot trust to be the country’s first citizen. The forgotten Welshman Ncube and his fading offshoot of the MDC is also part of Nera.

In the last harmonised elections in 2013, his party failed to garner a single seat.

Before joining Nera, his party flirted with other opposition factions using the name Coalition of Democrats.

CODE was also home to Simba Makoni (Mavambo/Kusile), Elton Mangoma and the little known Gilbert Dzikiti among other inconsequential politicians.

The Nera equation cannot be complete without mentioning Dumiso Dabengwa.

This chap since he left Zanu-PF bidding for Simba Makoni’s presidential ambitions has become a tribal politician who does not have room in Zimbabwe’s unitary politics.

The rest of the parties under the Nera banner, including Tendai Biti’s People’s Democratic Party, are a bunch of nonentities whose rumbling and raving will not stop the sun from rising from the east.

These personalities have no stamina to challenge Zanu-PF. Their coming together is an inadvertent admission that Zanu-PF is unconquerable.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Simon Khaya Moyo aptly summed up everything saying “Zanu-PF is an unstoppable machine.”

Another major undoing of Nera’s attempt to unseat Zanu-PF is its failure to come up with a clear administrative structure in the unlikely event that the coalition does the unthinkable come 2018.

Trading of positions among the parties is an emotive issue that coalition leaders do not even want to tackle.

The day they dare do that will mark the demise of this giant artificial bull.