What makes Morgan Tsvangirai tick?
By Luke Tamborinyoka
In a mere three days, Morgan Tsvangirai communicated with Africa as a statesman but ended up two days later at a village in Domboshawa to commiserate with a bereaved family in an ordinary village under a tree.
In between, he had spoken on the national crisis to ordinary Zimbabweans in the dormitory town of Norton.
That has been the hallmark of Morgan Tsvangirai and his leadership style.
He can easily change in one instance from the revered international statesman he is to become an ordinary Zimbabwean interacting with ordinary people in very ordinary circumstances as he did in only three days over the weekend.
Many have asked what makes Mogan Tsvangirai tick and so revered by ordinary Zimbabweans in all spheres.
It is simply that uncanny ability to outflank his political opponents with unparalleled dexterity, at the same time exhibiting his natural leadership by being adept at fitting in every circumstance.
On Friday, he wrote to President Zuma congratulating him and the ANC for winning the election and running a largely-credible election.
An hour later, he wrote to the government of Nigeria, telling them that the MDC and the party’s entire leadership stood by the people of Nigeria in this dark hour of the abduction of over 200 innocent school girls.
Two days later on Sunday, he was in Norton, speaking to ordinary Zimbabweans of a possible implosion if the national crisis was not dealt with as a matter of urgency.
On Monday, he was in Domboshawa, joining me and my family at the burial of my late grandmother, Mbuya Martha Tamborenyoka Gombera, a 93-year-old woman who was close to my heart and who died in my house on Saturday, May 11, 2014 in Chitungwiza.
Addressing mourners at her funeral in Domboshawa, president Tsvangirai spoke about the importance of the aged in our communities, adding that what was more important was the legacy our old people live behind when they die; the memories they create and leave behind when they meet their destiny.
That is the hallmark of his leadership style, a leader who can find it easy to join his underling to mourn a relative and spend a day commiserating with ordinary Zimbabweans in a village.
Morgan Tsvangirai has always been a man of the people, away from the big ornate billiard tables associated with elitist conspirators plotting a hostile take-over, and away from a clueless Zanu PF government that has dismally failed to rig the economy.
It is Tsvangirai’s uncanny ability to be adept to every situation that has defined him and that has enabled him to outflank his political rivals.
His rivals have never had that important political trait of having the dual competence of the boardroom and standing before a simple village audience in Muzarabani.
Morgan Tsvangirai has managed to redefine the meaning of leadership in Zimbabwean politics; from the fiery trade unionist who could shut down the country’s industry for a grave national concern to the ordinary Zimbabwean who beat Mugabe hands down in election in 2008.
He can morph from an international statesman who almost won the Nobel Peace Prize to the simple man in mourning with ordinary villagers at Tamborenyoka village in Domboshawa.
People want to see in leadership an ordinary person like them who understands what they go through every day.
He has been an ordinary mine worker at Trojan Mine in Bindura and therefore understands the rigours of honest, hard work.
He has experienced police brutality like other Zimbabweans, including being battered in a police cell and even spending time at a maximum security prison at one point on trumped up charges.
He is, and has been an opposition leader, within the constricted confines of a daring dictatorship that has never comprehended multi-party democracy.
He has been Prime Minister of the land and knows only too well the contours of government and how to use the arena of government authority to unleash positive change in the lives of the people.
He has seen it all and can still fit with ease and competence in all the arenas that fate always creates for him.
He has redefined leadership with his uncanny ability to exude his ordinary nature, even to the usual to the mammoth admiring and supportive crowds that always follow him; crowds which his opponents will never have the capacity to gather, even in a dozen lifetimes.
He has redefined leadership to mean honesty and humility, to mean having the same experience that ordinary people grapple with every day and even spending the day with ordinary villages anywhere anytime.
*Luke Tamborinyoka is the spokesperson to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. He doubles up as the party’s acting director of Information and Publicity and writes here in his personal capacity.
