Tsvangirai still the man of the people

By Masuku Nokulunga

The wild cheers, praise and worship songs which embellished a press conference which was held at the MDC-T party headquarters yesterday afternoon are a clear indication that Morgan Tsvangirai is still the darling of many, making the claims by some sections of the media that he is loosing grip a blatant lie. 

The people of Zimbabwe are far away from giving up on Tsvangirai after the too little too late succour that he availed in 2008 upon the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

It was through his efforts that the nation was taken back to a few years after independence when it was still the bread basket of Southern Africa, though it was short-lived, it saw the return of economic stability after years and years of turmoil under the Zanu PF government of Robert Mugabe that had been marked by industrial disillusionment and social unrests.

At one point I thought that we were heading to the Zimbabwean great boom, which resembles that of America between the years, 1935-1966 were it was two cars in every garage and chicken in every pot.

 In his fervency to save the people’s interest, Tsvangirai through the National Council, a decision making board outside Congress called for an early Congress to be held in October this year and not 2016.

Tsvangirai unlike his rival Robert Mugabe has shown his heroic character by offering himself as a sacrificial lamb for the betterment of the nation and the livelihoods of those he leads, given that the outcome of the Congress in October will decide Tsvangirai’s fate as the leader of the party, for better or worse.

Such a move is a bigger step that only a few who are not power hungry like him would sacrifice the possibility of having their term as party head short-lived, which is undoubtedly one of the traits of good leadership qualities.

Whether Tsvangirai retains the presidential post in the next Congress is not important. What is of paramount importance is the future of the party and its capabilities to outmanoeuvre the Mugabe led ZANU PF in the next elections that are set for 2018.

Nokulunga Masuku is a Media and Society Studies student at the Midlands State University; she can be contacted on [email protected]