By Tapiwa Chininga
An obituary is a notice or announcement, especially in a newspaper, of a person’s death, often with a short account of their life. It is often the first thing many people read in the news each day and may be the last word written about a person’s life.
If the events in the furnace hot MDC-T for the past few weeks are anything to read, then supporters of MDC-T secretary general Tendai Biti and its deputy treasurer general Mr Elton Mangoma must ready themselves to receive the ultimate shocking messages that read like, “We are deeply sorry for your loss,” any time soon or come the 2016 party congress.
The writing is clearly on the wall for these attested top generals of the struggle against Mugabe’s misrule, who, for many years ,were anchored in the people’s hearts as a source of hope for a new Zimbabwe until the day they nicodimously choose to abandon their troops after a promiscuous flirtation with Zanu PF agendas. The people will overwhelmingly vote them to political obscurity.
Please understand me, I am just writing. My take is that Mangoma and Biti have just dug their own political graves through their perceived actions and public pronouncement that Tsvangirai must go.
When a writer takes a hardline position like this , particularly if it involves digesting issues that are emotive to others, yet not real and substantive at that moment, one runs a risk of being labeled a wishful thinker.
To others it’s actually a sin especially to those with a vile disposition towards discussion and do not tolerate criticism of their ideas because they say they are educated and learned. But there is a difference between wisdom and education.
Biti and company actually need help before they sink to oblivion.
This view may make no immediate sense to fathom especially to many people who are following the complex interplay of events, personalities and parties involved in the boiling opposition party, apparently triggered by the party’s deputy treasurer’s poorly advised call for Tsvangirai to abdicate the hot seat and persistent accusations that the veteran politician has overstayed and exhausted his chances of removing Mugabe and his Zanu PF government.
One needs time to reflect on the history of the party and similar such rebellions in the past.
In order to argument this position, let me point to an undeniable fact that is emerging from the rank and file of the party, a fact that Mangoma, Biti and company must grudgingly accept. Tsvangirai is still in popular demand and only those who choose to be politically blind can refuse that naked truth.
People must get me right. I am not saying Tsvangirai has not stayed long as the president of the party, but it is not long enough to the people who asked him to lead. Those people still have confidence in his leadership and after last month’s eight-hour meeting of his party’s 210 district chairpersons at Harvest House plus the rally in Harare’s Glen Norah suburb the following day, it should be clear to all doubting thomases that Morgan Tsvangirai remains the only hope for the ordinary people in villages, farms, mines and in the urban townships.
Yes, Mangoma may have shown gusto or unbridled ambition to bell the cat but it is not for him or Biti to say Tsvangirai must go. Both Biti and Mangoma have been elected by the people and only the same people can recall their leaders through a forum called congress in 2016.
This brings us to the centrality of the dispute and the chilli question my argument is hinged on.
Constant calls for Tsvangirai to step down without any coherent plan for the future has been rejected by the people as epitomized by the yanking of Mangoma and his like-minded friends who were spanked by a bored youth. Their grand plan is collapsing and it is sensible to expect that Tsvangirai feels betrayed by his most trusted lieutenants.
The question is whether he will be able and comfortable working with these people who have called him to step down? Are the MDC supporters still going to vote these “Judas Iscariots “to those influential positions which they are using now to manipulate the party for self gain.
Do you think these perceived traitors will emerge victorious in a free and fair contest against rising stars like Nelson Chamisa, Chalton Hwende, Obert Gutu, Sesel Zvidzai, Clifford Hlatywayo, Abednico Bhebhe, Kudakwashe Matibiri among other Cadres who have stood by Tsvangirai during these tumultuous times.
I bet my last dollar that Biti and Mangoma will face the chop come the party congress in 2016 unless they start courting favor with the popular tide.
It is important to distinguish between the media misinformation narrative of the party and true sentiment of grassroots supporters. Put simply Biti and Mangoma are unwittingly lost in this web, feeding into the impression being deliberately created on the political market that depict Tsvangirai as being at the centre of the national crisis, oblivious of the multi-layered crisis spawned by the stolen election of July 31.
Bluntly speaking, the group led by Biti’s agenda, timing and everything they are saying smells Zanu PF fish.
Naively so, they have ignited a debate that appears set to haunt them and separated from key issues or national perception that elections were rigged, whether subtly or openly. They also fail to realize that it is a fact of life in the mind of the people who voted that Tsvangirai has stood the test of time and at this moment it is only him who has a personal brand and stamina equal to remove Mugabe and Zanu PF despite the current setbacks.
Clearly a group of these individuals in the Mangoma and Biti faction are in a serious dilemma and things are falling apart, fast. Lost in the melee of things happening , they now expect Tsvangirai to just sit on his haunches, throwing roses, when they are returning thorns.
Isn’t it ironic and laughable that Mangoma actually expected Tsvangirai to shield him from harm after his disparaging remarks in frankly contemptuous terms that any sane person can only expect from an overzealous Zanu PF functionary?
Please get me right. I am not condoning violence, but only query whether it is not a natural phenomenon to be angry and that people have a right to show displeasure when their leadership has lost touch with the aspirations of the suffering masses on the ground.
That is why Mangoma, Biti, and others did not go to the Glen Norah rally. They did not snub it, like other newspapers reported. They had no choice. They were going to be yanked again.
There are many dimensions to the problems in the MDC , and all of them considered, it is very difficult to discount the hand of president Mugabe’s agents, a shrewd master of divide and rule who has consistently used this tactic throughout his career as a political instrument to destabilize his opponents.
The central intelligence must have calculated that the MDC leadership is weak at this point after the 31 July election rout and therefore a very good time to infiltrate the party. They then made use of saboteurs within the party to destroy it from within by creating a scope for political cannibalism through political prostitutes and smooth talking crooks that are very hard to detect.
Tsvangirai may actually have been fighting on two fronts with his collogues deployed by Zanu PF on one side and Zanu PF itself on the other side. This is clearly highlighted by the entire state machinery that have been deployed against him, aided by his senior party members who are ready sources of leakages divulging strategic information on party plans and programmes as they try to hijack the national project from the masses.
Mangoma also stand accused of underfunding the party 2013 general elections as a strategy to oust Tsvangirai.
All these stories start to make sense if we sketch this background against rumors in corridors that the people leading the renewal group comprise of largely Zanu PF moles associated with corrupt minions in the security establishment.
A top MDC official recently confided in me about sordid details of how Elton Mangoma has been enrolled by the CIO deputy director general Nhepera to publicly call for Tsvangirai’s resignation if he is to avoid being arrested for alleged corrupt deals when he was energy minister.
There are also allegations that Mangoma is under pressure over his decision to refuse licensing Chisumbanje Ethanol project when he was the Energy Minister, in order to protect his interests in Caltex where he is a shareholder and these allegations of corruption is also sucking his also massive farm equipment businesses with close links to Zanu PF.
On the other hand Biti has become too cozy with Zanu PF to like. Recently he was in a storm for representing Gideon Gono in court , a Zanu PF functionary, in a corruption case seen by Zimbabweans as one of the many corrupt activities linked to people with Zanu PF links but treated with impunity despite the fact that corruption is a major national cancer.
Ironically the MDC has been on the forefront of blaming Zanu PF for corruption. He was also in the news in 2011, showering praises to Mugabe, giving currency to fears that he has been working undercover to destabilize MDC.
Sources say Mangoma’s group is going to be even become more rabid and obtrusive and his move to report his comrades to the police is just the beginning of more disturbing news meant to destabilize the opposition party.
There is no doubt these elitist, superb boardroom idealists are out of sync with reality as evidenced by their failure to justify the efficacy of their position other than just creating splinter groups in party. They may receive sympathy in the newspapers and various internet discussion forums but the harsh truth is that time is busy writing their political obituaries.
Tapiwa chininga is a Journalist and Law student based in South Africa. He can be contacted on: [email protected]
