Ncube and Mutambara just prominent parasites

By Tanonoka Joseph Whande

That our country of Zimbabwe is going through hard times cannot be disputed. Our problems were supposed to have ended when we gained independence after a bitter armed struggle but, unfortunately, our troubles grew firmer and took on a newer and unexpected diabolical turn instead.

Before independence, we blamed and accused successive minority, white, racist governments of abusing the indigenous people, murdering them and dispossessing them. We cheered at independence because we believed that we had fought hard to retake our country and were now in a position to plot our own successes and advances as we set forth to improve our nation and people.

There was euphoria when we gained independence because, finally, we were our own masters. Finally, we were to stop the murder of our people; the segregation and abuse of our citizens. Finally, were to stop the isolation and were to regain the land that we had lost to the white settlers.

It has been more than thirty years now since that day that marked the loosening of political chains and we are worse than we ever were at any time in our history. We are still not our own masters but are servants of the Chinese. We still have not plotted our own successes and advances because we have regressed from what we were under colonial rule.

We are murdering our own people in greater numbers than the settlers did. We still do not have the land for which thousands of our compatriots died. What we achieved was to replace the white looters and murderers with black ones and the Africans are, of course, better at it than the settlers. We cannot escape the blame over what our nation has become.

Unlike the pre-independence time, we have more educated Africans now. As others work tirelessly for the emancipation of Zimbabwe, others, like Ignatius Chombo, work for self enrichment while still others, like Welshman Ncube and Arthur Mutambara, are nothing more than prominent parasites; carpetbaggers who, like a cancer, have taken over the body on which they feed and are retarding recovery while cannibalising the host body.

I was amazed to read about Welshman Ncube’s outbursts last week. First, Ncube said he will not form a coalition with the mainstream MDC and went on to make personal attacks on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Ncube’s failure and political impotence overwhelm him. He attacked the media which he said only writes stories in praise of Tsvangirai.

Ncube has become deaf and blind to what he is: an absolute nothing, a political parasite that is only allowed to exist to frustrate the positive progression of Zimbabwe’s political turnaround.

It is not true that the media always praises Tsvangirai but even then, Tsvangirai has made more sacrifices than Ncube who, to my knowledge, has made not a single sacrifice other than to plant himself among compatriots who gathered to form the MDC.

Ncube later betrayed others and almost destroyed the MDC. When it comes to Tsvangirai, the media has something to talk about, whether good or bad, because Tsvangirai has done something positive to attract the nation’s attention. More importantly, the media cannot stop talking about Tsvangirai because people voted for him and are interested in what he is doing vis-à-vis the mandate given him by the voters.

Ncube, whose legal prowess is clearly overrated, is in cabinet and parliament without representing any constituency. He is there courtesy of Tsvangirai’s party. And Ncube complains that the media writes about Tsvangirai as if he is a god.

Ncube must remember that Tsvangirai is our Prime minister and the attention he generates cannot be compared to that of Welshman Ncube, a political parasite who, instead of badmouthing Tsvangirai, should view him as a god because it is Tsvangirai who is hosting Ncube and putting food on Ncube’s table.

Said Ncube to the media: “You can go on and cartoon us as many times as you want but we do not care.” We, the people, including the media, will oblige because Ncube is a shameless political embarrassment who is clearly reaping where he never planted. We know he doesn’t care, that is precisely why no one voted for him.

He has absolutely no right to be where he is and should just eat what he is getting quietly. Ncube’s presence in both parliament and cabinet is a financial rip-off of the people of Zimbabwe. There is no justification for his presence. He is a spoiler who has contributed to the unnecessary deadlock on the political scene. His mere presence has many times undermined the effectiveness of this unity government.

Ncube is the reason we should have elections soon; we need to get rid of such unthankful loud mouths. With misguided self importance, Ncube declared that he would not form a coalition with the bigger MDC; he plays macho man yet he knows he needs the mainstream MDC more than they need him. Zimbabwe does not have to be abused by small time politicians like Welshman Ncube.

But, yes, he has to blow his own trumpet because no one else finds any reason to do it for him. But I kind of feel sorry for him; he is trying too hard to justify who he is. He is even “challenging both Tsvangirai and Mugabe to a live debate on television on party policies”, saying that he will show them how brilliant he and his party are.

This is really pathetic. Party policies? Which party? His party? Tsvangirai’s party or ZANU-PF party policies and what use is that to the voter? Besides, shouldn’t he be showing the voters his brilliance instead of attacking those who received votes? The heart of the matter is that Welshman Ncube and his followers should at least show some gratitude that they have been allowed to keep jobs they are not entitled to hold.

They should not take Zimbabweans for granted. This is all about votes and power broking, none of which Ncube has. They should be spending time trying to sell their ideas to the people instead of attacking those who received votes from the people. Attacking the media is a sign of frustration that he is failing to get his message across, if, indeed, he has any message for the people.

Ncube and his followers must re-strategise and must cease attacking the media for their own ineptitude. The truth, though, is that they don’t have any commodity, political or otherwise, to sell. Ncube and his troop must know that they will never look good by making someone else look bad.

They have to earn the people’s confidence in their own right. If Ncube convinces us that Tsvangirai is bad, it does not mean that we will say Ncube is, therefore, good. They should redirect their message to the grassroots because, like I always say, the people have the answer.

Right now, it is not clear what Ncube’s faction stands for or what they would do differently from Mugabe or MDC. They do not offer an alternative but are always busy criticising Tsvangirai and Mugabe. People are not naïve and can see chancers when they see them.

Ncube should apologise to the Zimbabwean people for burdening them with an unnecessary financial bill in salaries for unelected people and for staffing cabinet and parliament with people no one voted for. He should be apologising to us all for planting Arthur Mutambara in cabinet where he does absolutely nothing and where he represents not a single voter or even a single political party.

If Ncube is keen to show his brilliance, he should start by reversing this costly and unnecessary imposition on Zimbabwe’s finances. We are not amused that he saddled us with an unnecessary wage bill. If he were as brilliant as he says he is, he should be holding a good job somewhere, not depending on a nation that rejected him.

There should be some sort of shame to be consulted over issues that do not concern you, like what is happening now because, surely, matters of the government of Zimbabwe are surely none of Welshman Ncube’s concern. Ncube should enjoy his undeserved perks quietly or else we start asking questions.

Welshman Ncube is irrelevant and must not blame the media for his incompetency. After all, he is a carpetbagger and the people of Zimbabwe have tolerated his disastrous meddling long enough. He should, instead, plan his party policies carefully and try to reach the people and must stop attacking the media and other people while he is offering nothing in return.

I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my fellow Zimbabweans, is the way it is today, Thursday, November 17th, 2011.