By Calisto Mudzingwa
Dear MDC-T
Please keep your eyes on the ball; you are once again just about to take your eyes off the ball, at a crucial moment. In fact, you have a propensity to do just that—taking your eyes off the ball at decisive moments, and this is one of those moments.
Unlike other people, I am not going to call it bad judgment, indecision or lack of strategy on your part. The other crucial time you took your eyes off the ball was when you joined the coalition government—this creature called the GNU.
You may have had your good reasons for doing so, but the undeniable truth is that you gave a dying ZANU PF the oxygen that it desperately needed. You should not have gone to bed with ZANU PF; not at all. They had no clue on how to solve the economy. The economy was going to be their demise.
On joining the GNU, you gave the lamest excuse in the entire history of lame excuses: “the people were suffering”. Yes, people were facing untold hardships, but that is part of the struggle—people suffer, and some die. Every struggle has casualties.
Who told you that liberation comes on a platter? You need to learn one or two things from ZANU PF—The Revolutionary Party. When they waged the war of liberation, how many civilians died? How many were displaced? How many were maimed? Were the people not suffering then?
Did they ever capitulate or suspend the struggle, simply because people were suffering? Their ultimate goal was to truly liberate the people from the colonial oppressors, and they did so, despite people being placed in camps, dying and displaced. Don’t we teach our children that “sometimes we have to be cruel in order to be kind “?
At this crucial and defining moment, I see that you are once again about to take your eyes off the ball. Never allow ZANU PF to railroad you into elections before all the articles of the GPA are implemented.
When you agreed to join the GNU, you knew it was not a stroll in the park—I hope. I recall that the Prime Minister once said, “You will stick it out”; then please do so. By speaking the election language, when the GPA has not been implemented in FULL, you are now playing into the hands of ZANU PF.
In fact, you are now talking their language. Your language must be: “elections after FULL implementation of GPA”: PERIOD. Since when did you start speaking the same language with ZANU PF?
So far you have been doing very well, whether by accident or through good strategies—continue in that mode. Organize rallies all over the country: Muzarabani, Dotito, Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe, Gokwe, Chipinge, Chivnhu, Zvimba, Mutare, you name it. Let ZANU PF thugs continue disrupting the rallies; that is fine—it will back fire big time.
Never EVER fool yourself that ZANU PF, The Revolutionary Party, is going to let you win elections this time around, if you agree to go into elections without FULL implementation of the GPA. These guys have learned their lesson and the rigging machinery is going to be perfected like never before.
Here is another example of you taking your eyes off the ball: the press reports that there is going to be an Indaba for all parties regarding the resurgence of political violence. What is this that I read that John Nkomo is going to prepare a ‘code of conduct’ for all parties? This affects all the parties; you need to have your own guy in there!
Do you need reminding that this “code of conduct” should be a tripartite thing: one ZANU PF guy, one MDC-T and one MDC-N? Are you that naïve to think that John Nkomo, whatever he comes up with, will be fair and impartial? NO! This is exactly what I mean when I say you have this inclination to take your eyes off the ball at defining moments.
Whatever John Nkomo comes up, with will be binding on all parties, but we all know it is going to be in favour of ZANU PF. Since you have agreed that he does so, are you going to cry foul when he produces such a document?
Let me conclude by saying, never ever take your eyes off the ball this time around; NO elections until all the requirements of the GPA are implemented in FULL; continue organizing rallies countrywide and do not worry if they disrupt the rallies—sooner rather than later, they will reap what they sow, if they choose to continue along that path.
Calisto Mudzingwa can be reached on tawacali@gmail.com