By Wilbert Mukori
In his most incisive interview ever Thomas Mapfumo, ”Mukanya” as he is lovingly known to many, said Morgan Tsvangirai sold out Zimbabwe’s struggle for democratic change to none other than, Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF!
“People no longer have anyone to stand with,” said Mapfumo on Nehanda Radio.
“They (Zanu-PF) bought Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai joined the money brigade. Here the Americans did not give him money because of his ways. So whom should the people follow? There is no one who genuinely stands for the people in Zimbabwe.”
Of course Mukanya is right, Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders sold out because there is no other logical explanation why they failed to implement even one reform throughout the five years of their time in the Government of National Unity (GNU); that is, other than that they sold out. Let us look at the facts.
The GNU itself was formed following the disputed 2008 presidential run-off elections. Mugabe claimed he won the vote with a landslide but everyone else who witnessed the elections, including SADC and AU Election Observers Teams, condemned the whole process as not free and fair.
Zanu PF had blatantly rigged the vote by intimidating the voters, by threatening them, beating and raping others. The wanton violence was so bad that over 500, mainly opposition supporters, were murdered during the elections.
SADC proposed the formation of the GNU and tasked Zimbabwe’s political partners in the GNU, Zanu PF led by Mugabe and the two MDC factions led by Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara (and later Ncube) to implement a raft of democratic reforms to ensure the next elections are free, fair and credible and not a repeat of the 2008 elections.
It would be naïve to expect Mugabe and Zanu PF to implement any reforms because they had rigged the 2008 elections precisely because they knew they would not win free and fair elections. So the task of implementing the reforms fell to the MDC leaders. After the five years of the GNU, the MDC had failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!
The only reason why they failed to implement even one reform is that MDC leaders had accepted Mugabe’s gravy train hospitality; the tyrant laid a fine spread for them, fancy job titles, the country had a President, two Vice Presidents, a Prime Minister, two Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers galore, Governors, etc.
All these positions were to accommodate as many politicians from the GNU partners as possible and each got the full complement of ministerial cars and other trappings of power. Tsvangirai got the $4 million Highlands mansion too. After receiving all this, it would have been discourteous of the MDC politicians to raise the reforms with Mugabe.
“MDC vadzidza kudya vanjerere!” (MDC leaders have learnt to enjoy the gravy train luxuries and not rock the boat!) was the pithy explanation from a Zanu PF crony as to why MDC leaders were doing nothing about implementing the reforms.
SADC leaders complained of MDC leaders’ failure to get even one reform implemented, accusing them of “enjoying being the GNU and forgetting why they were there!” So Mukanya was by no means the first one to remark of MDC leaders betraying the nation for the traditional slave price of a piece of calico cloth and a handful of beads.
A number of excuses have been proffered to explain why MDC had failed to get even one reform implemented:
- “Mugabe and Zanu PF used their dictatorial powers to stop all reforms!”
This is an excuse put forward by those who did not understand the process that was to be followed to implement the reforms. The first step in this process was for the proposed reforms to be tabled in parliament for approval. Since MDC had the majority in parliament one expected the proposal to be passed. The next step would have been to get Mugabe to sign the proposal and the third step then was implementation.
No proposal was ever tabled in parliament and so there was nothing for parliament to approve and nothing for Mugabe to reject.
- “MDC did not know the process of implementing the reforms!”
MDC-T’s Secretary General at the time, Tendai Biti, a lawyer by profession, was the party’s chief negotiator in the agreement leading to the formation of GNU.
Clearly he knew about the reforms and what was required of his party. There were other lawyers too in the other MDC faction like Professor Welshman Ncube and David Coltart and the two were Ministers too in the GNU.
- “MDC was convinced that party had such a massive public support the party would still win regardless of Zanu PF’s attempts to rig the elections!” was Morgan Tsvangirai’s excuse.
He has never denied that he and the others accepted the bribes. In other words they accepted the bribes confident they would still win elections even if they were not going to be free, fair and credible. They gambled with the destiny of the whole nation and lost big time.
Even if MDC had won the 2013 elections allowing a system in which Zanu PF had a free hand to rig elections would still have been totally unacceptable because Zanu PF would still have had opportunities to rig future elections.
MDC leaders have proven not only that they are corrupt in accepting the bribes, they knew these were bribes in return for them implementing no reforms, but also that they are incompetent, they completely underestimated Zanu PF’s ability to rig elections.
And that they are totally irresponsible; they allowed Zanu PF to hold the threat of rigging future elections over the nation’s head, like the sword of Damocles!
- “Many in the MDC party believe Tsvangirai’s continued use of the mansion has compromised him, he should move out.”
If Tsvangirai gave up the mansion and his colleagues gave up their loot too; houses, farms, etc. they bought using the very generous gravy train allowances and expenses they were paid; it would be a significant gesture of their repentance, yes.
Still it will not undo the political damage their betrayal has caused, it could take years to finally get the reforms implemented and the social, economic and human cost, by then, would be heart breaking!
There is a very important lesson for us all here: we have all seen pictures of Tsvangirai with a swollen head after he was roughed up by Mugabe’s thugs, we believed him to be committed to delivering democratic changes and reforms.
It is therefore a shock to the nation that he has now turned out to be corrupt, incompetent and irresponsible to betray the nation and our quest for democratic change in so cruel a manner. This is not the first time the nation has been betrayed, of course.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies are yesterday’s liberation heroes and heroines and yet after independence they became the corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrants from whose tyrannical rule the nation is struggling to escape.
We should have learnt from Zanu PF’s betrayal to be extra careful in our selection of leaders; if we had we would have not elected Tsvangirai and his MDC friend!
The moral of this tragic tale of Zanu PF betrayal and then MDC betrayal; is that it is not everyone who risks his/her own life fighting for a cause who believes in the cause; mercenaries too fight but if they are offered the right price they will sell out. Some people will sell their own mother for a price and be proud they had a mother to sell!
Of course ‘Mukanya’ Thomas Mapfumo is right, by failing to implement even one democratic reform, Tsvangirai and the other MDC leaders sold the nation and our cause to Mugabe and Zanu PF.
Listen to Thomas Mapfumo taking no prisoners on Nehanda Radio
