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isolate Arthur Mutambara have all become enigmatic since the involvement of two of the MDC formations in governance.

Morgan Tsvangirai has proven to be more immanent than productive politically, switching from maintaining a public profile of posturing as an unrelentingly brave victim of political brutality to a notorious scandalist known best for an atrociously expensive and reckless sexual taste.

The meretricious political outfit led by Welshman Ncube is impressively committed to its pretentious ways and Ncube himself has perfected the art of posturing as national leader, and there are dedicated sections of the media that have immensely helped Ncube’s cause — strictly from a viewpoint of ego massaging. Meanwhile, the nation plays the uninterested observer.

Arthur Mutambara is by every means a man of high intellectual integrity — but he is undoubtedly the country’s chief isolate when it comes to politics. There simply is no room for the intellectual excellence of Mutambara in the world of political mediocrity that once invited the scientist into its leadership fold, and it would appear Zanu-PF understands Mutambara’s policy depth more than the people he once led for close to five years.

In 2010 Arthur Mutambara decried the mediocrity that characterises African politics in general and he mournfully cited Zimbabwe in particular. He was giving an interview to a Tanzanian radio station. His opinion is indisputable, and the current mediocrity in Zimbabwe’s body politic is legendary.

One of the challenges highlighted by Mutambara in that interview was the issue of the politics of personality. Right now Morgan Tsvangirai can be forgiven for believing that he is his party’s immortal “main actor” — a phrase he insensitively used to describe his lucky escape from a horrendous fatal car crash that killed his wife in 2009. Morgan Tsvangirai believes there can be no such thing as the MDC without his leadership.

There are some members of the MDC-T that have deified their leader as a democracy god without whom Zimbabwe has no chance of ever knowing what it means to be democratic.

There is a worrying trend of the politics of personalities in Africa, and the idea that political leaders are elevated to levels of indispensability has cultivated in its wings the politics of mediocrity. Deified political leaders thrive on the patronage of their fanatical subordinates, and incompetent politicians insulate themselves from the wrath of scrutiny and accountability by worshipping at the ego altar of the great leader, who in turn secures their unwarranted stay in the echelons of political power. Deified political leaders are vampires that continually suck the blood of their nations purely on the basis of maintaining power privileges.

Patronage itself is a product of plutocracy — essentially the rule of wealth. We have a society that has synonymised political leadership with wealth and as such the aspiration of our politicians is often all wrapped in materialism and self-aggrandisement.

The poignant sorrows of Zimbabwean urban dwellers have undoubtedly been exacerbated by the disgusting corruption of ill-intended local government officials largely from Morgan Tsvangirai’s party. In Bulawayo these officials had no problem prioritising spoiling themselves with top class luxurious cars while the city stinks to high heavens with stray sewage. They even mortgaged the city’s most valued building so they could buy for themselves a fleet of classy cars.

In Masvingo the MDC-T city fathers almost got the whole city auctioned to compensate unpaid workers. And the circus rages on.

In Chitungwiza the MDC-T council indiscriminately and corruptly parcelled land to cronies and to themselves — even daring to sub-divide sports fields and wetlands.

Zanu-PF has for years perfected the art of breeding punctilious pseudo-revolutionaries that know everything to do with political survival except serving the people. While the mainstream media often shies from exposing the ineptness of some of these politicians, the so-called independent or private media complements the culture of political mediocrity by elevating MDC insanity to matters of democratisation — sanitising every act of foolishness as some complex act of political manoeuvring.

The error of the Zimbabwean politician is sadly sanitised and repackaged as glory by a politicised media that has lost every sense of ethical journalism.

The MDC-T has been vainly wailing about something they call “political reforms;” reportedly enshrined in the misnamed Global Political Agreement (GPA) — all the time insisting that these reforms must precede the holding of “peaceful free and fair elections”. To some in the MDC the arbiter of free and fair elections is simply an electoral victory for Morgan Tsvangirai.

Now that the lifespan of the current Parliament ends on June 29, by which time there will arise a constitutional need for the election of a new government; the two MDCs in the inclusive Government want the lifespan of Parliament extended to year-end so that these “political reforms” can be achieved before an election is held.

The pliant private media sees no logic in asking what it is that makes the MDC officials think they can achieve in four months by way of political reforms when they failed to do so in the last five years. If indeed Zanu-PF has been strong-headed enough to deny the MDCs these reforms for five years, what makes anyone think the party can concede to the MDC demands in the next four months?
The truth is that the MDC once believed that the inclusive Government was a purgatorial arrangement where Zanu-PF would proceed to the lake of fire in the aftermath of the terrible political marriage, and the Tsvangirai-led MDC-T would be easily elevated to the glorious heavens — forming the next government.

Now every pointer of common sense is painfully pointing towards a Zanu-PF victory — thanks to the mediocrity of its political opponents from the MDC, and the only way left for the MDC is to stretch the life of this bastardised coalition — at least to push a little further the sweet journey of the gravy train.

Much as political mediocrity is at culture levels within Zanu-PF itself, the truth of the matter is that every known policy that has been implemented during this inclusive Government is a Zanu-PF policy, or at the very least, is attributable to the party.

Quite strategically Zanu-PF revived the 2007 indigenisation policy and the party tactfully made it the theme of the entire moment of the inclusive Government. Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere just easily makes the grade as the most visible player in the tenure of the inclusive Government.

All the MDC could do is play reactionary to this revolutionary policy — and for their efforts the MDC managed to strongly reiterate Zanu-PF’s assertion that their opponents are against pro-people policies, and that they do so at the instruction of their Western funders.

The mining sector controlled by a Zanu-PF minister made so much policy noise during this inclusive Government that even Tendai Biti was reduced to a mere winching commentator — not the all-powerful Finance Minister that he pretends to be whenever he visits Western capitals.

For all the noise that characterised the entry of the MDC into governance, the party proved to have astoundingly awkward priorities. The party made its entry into Government by grandstanding a massive imitation of Obama’s 2009 entrance into White House — announcing a high-sounding 100-day plan and some pretentious policy animal that Mr Biti called STERP, or something like that; dragging the entire civil service to a massive launch of this great-for-nothing policy all the way to Victoria Falls.

After the massive launch of this gigantic policy, Tsvangirai and his lieutenants embarked on noisy rants about media reforms, about who gets what position in the commissions, about security sector reforms, and about how best Tsvangirai could chair Cabinet – wherever the ministers could be gathered specifically for the sole purpose of giving the then brand new PM a sense of grandeur.

Meanwhile, Zanu-PF managed to keep the MDC politicians pretty busy fighting for all sorts of high-sounding nothings; and the party used the opportunity to make huge strides popularising the economic empowerment policy — especially through the mining sector.

Now the quandary of how to keep supporting an inept MDC led by a scandalous Tsvangirai is the main occupation of the minds of those who in the past took the party for a formidable opposition alternative.

The effort to portray as rapine both the land reform programme and the indigenisation policy now badly backfires as provocative Western rhetoric, and the MDC-T has been totally silenced inasfar as slandering the policies of Zanu-PF is concerned. To the ordinary Zimbabwean there is simply no policy alternative to the policies of Zanu-PF, and the MDC is simply not identifiable with policy.

The stabilising economy somewhat vindicates the credibility of the land reform programme, and clearly the indigenisation policy has been embraced by Zimbabweans from across the political divide.
The MDC has been incapacitated in its traditional opposition rhetoric — thanks to the GPA that brought it into Government — exposing fully the ineptitude of its leadership.

Before the MDC joined Zanu-PF in governing the country they always wailed loud and hoarse that Government does not work.

To their credit the party indisputably proved it once the leaders got into Government — especially through the MDC-T-controlled urban councils. As it stands in Masvingo every resident must be convinced that council does not work.

Political mediocrity thrives so well in an environment of political polarity, politicised media, selfish aspiration, shallowness in policy, unmeritorious candidature, propaganda, and a culture of materialism.

Zimbabwe currently has this full concoction and this is why the MDC needs political rallies more than they need policy.

Morgan Tsvangirai shines better shouting anything against Zanu-PF at a political rally than he would when explaining himself at a development policy forum. He is even better explaining how natural it is for him to sleep around with anyone that agrees; since in Tsvangirai’s world that is the behaviour to which every bachelor is entitled.

Apart from bringing to the fold a few policy-oriented loners like Nelson Chamisa and Arthur Mutambara, the MDC can fairly be accused of exonerating Zanu-PF from its policy shortcomings.
Senator Morgan Femai makes Zanu-PF policies super-angelic by his mere ignorance. What are Zimbabweans supposed to make of a Senator whose policy proposal on HIV and Aids is compulsory shabbiness for all women? That is the world-class brilliance found in the MDC-T.

Importantly Senator Femai only shows how Zimbabwe has elevated pub-talk to matters of formalised national debate. That is the power of mediocrity.

It is this writer’s hope that the 2013 election will deal a good blow to the political mediocrity. It is time we elect meritorious leaders who can help take the country where it belongs among the nations.
Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!!

Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in Sydney, Australia.