‘Mwonzora article on Tsvangirai misleading’
By Terrance Maoneke
The opinion piece written by MDC-T Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora headlined ‘Why Morgan Tsvangirai is our best foot forward‘ makes a sad reading to every Zimbabwean involved in the democratic struggle that started in 1997.
While it is Mr Mwonzora’s democratic right and freedom to express his opinion, he should not seek to change the history of the struggle against Mugabe’s regime.
The article is distorted and full of praise and worship of the person of Morgan Tsvangirai. While I see no problem with supporting political leaders of one‘s choice it is still necessary to do so using correct facts.
Firstly in his misleading article Douglas Mwonzora attributes “The NO VOTE” victory in the 2000 Referendum to Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC. This is not only false but a clear deliberate attempt to lie to Zimbabweans.
It is historically and correctly captured that the “No Vote” campaign was led by civic society under the banner of NCA. The chairperson of NCA then was Ms. Thoko Matshe. It is clearly evident that at this time the MDC was still at its initial stage of formation and it had no structures countrywide except for the interim committee.
It is myopic to take Mwonzora’s false assertion that his leader Tsvangirai is the sole victim of the ZANU PF regime. Citing Tsvangirai as the sole victim of Highfields beatings is not only surprising but a mere rhetoric coming from a spectator of that event.
The unfortunate Highfields event was organized by Civic Society under the banner of Save Zimbabwe Campaign. An activist Gift Tandare was killed by the police in Highfields.
The people who were brutally assaulted included Civic Society leaders, political parties and church leaders. Those who were seriously injured included Morgan Tsvangirai, Grace Kwinjeh, Prof Lovemore Madhuku, Sekai Holland to mention but a few.
Those arrested and detained for days also included Arthur Mutambara, Job Sikhala, Gladys Hlatshwayo, Alois Dzvairo, Rashid Mahiya, Sydney Chisi, Madock Chivasa and Nelson Chamisa.
It is surprising how some ZANU PF traits are surfacing in the article by Mwonzora. He argues that “Tsvangirai’s strongholds were denied full opportunity to register as voters.”
Before the MDC T, ZANU PF is the only political party that claimed to own people in Zimbabwe. It is therefore weird for Douglas Mwonzora to start fronting an opinion that there are certain sections of Zimbabwe that belong to his dear leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
I believe that Zimbabweans vote for political leaders expecting an improvement in their lives and it is not true therefore to conclude that there is anyone who can own Zimbabweans regardless of the situation at hand.
Maybe Mwonzora’s misleading piece is because he is a stranger to the politics of MDC and its history. He is trying to narrate the events which he read and not witnessed.
As late as 2005, Mwonzora was one of the few Zimbabweans who still believed that Abel Muzorewa could be the president of Zimbabwe.
Douglas Mwonzora was a top “national” executive member and apologist of Abel Muzorewa under the banner of the treacherous United Parties.
It is therefore clear that the success that Mwonzora is trying to bestow upon his current leader is a result of a collective effort by all stakeholders who were not happy with the ZANU PF regime.
I still believe that after Tsvangirai was deserted by his allies in 2013 he became weak and dismally lost the general election. The kind of arrogance and attempts to alter history in Mwonzora’s article is a clear testimony that the MDC T party is heading to a sad ending and is being led by people who don’t even know its history. This is quite unfortunate!
Terrance Maoneke is the NCA National Youth Chairperson, he writes this article in his personal capacity and can be reached on his email [email protected]
