Tsvangirai has nothing to be ashamed of

By Benjamin Chitate

There is no problem at all marrying a person with an opposing political view in a democracy, but Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai must have reflected on the hardships he has gone through at the hands of Zanu PF in his political life the moment he realised that Ms. Tembo was related to Zanu PF officials.

He was also very fortunate to have been advised by some of his colleagues against his affair with Locadia Tembo, but, as reported by a local newspaper, he “refused to listen to advice”.

Thank God he finally took advice after a briefing by sympathisers from Zanu PF about her past and about her close links to the system, although he could have avoided this by terminating the affair the moment he discovered that Ms. Tembo was related to Zanu PF officials.

Taking a risk the size of the one he took by trusting someone with Zanu PF connections is dangerous at this stage of the struggle for democracy, especially as many Zimbabwe had pinned all their hope on him to bring about democracy in the country by defeating Dictator Mugabe.

It is very unfortunate that there are reports that some senior MDC-T officials reportedly facilitated the affair between the Prime Minister and Ms. Tembo, to the extent that Mrs. Theresa Makone reportedly accompanied the team that went to pay whatever was paid to the Karimatsenga family, a claim she has refuted.

Perhaps the video footage which the Karimatsenga family claim to have could help explain things, even claims that there was a request for a wedding. Whether those claims were jokingly made, it is clear that Prime Minister Tsvangirai is now no longer interested in marrying Ms. Tembo, and the story should end there.

It wasn’t a crime at all for a single Tsvangirai to look for love, but now that he has realised that the person he had thought he could spend the rest of his life with is not the type that he likes, those involved should understand and leave him alone.

There is nothing Prime Minister Tsvangirai should be ashamed of. He is single and looking for love, but found the wrong love, unlike a married Mugabe who had children with his Secretary while his wife was living – that was corruption at its best, total abuse of power on the part of Mugabe.

Tsvangirai might have avoided women from his own party thinking that people may think he is abusing his authority, but after what has happened, I hope the Prime Minister will now realise that he needs the support of someone he trusts.

He needs someone he has known personally for some years, whether they are in the MDC, in the church he goes to, or people he has interacted with and can be confident they have had genuine general love for him. His position both in Government and in the party requires that someone who will massage him at the end of a day’s hard work, and the sooner he realises that, the better.

Benjamin Chitate, New Zealand