Musewe should propose honest solutions

By Patrick Guramatunhu

In the old days, I am talking of the 1970s, people had record players. My cousin bought one such record player with his first wage.

It was not much bigger than a shoe box. It was one of the fancy players were one could load as many as four records and it would play them one after the other. One could also have the player to automatically repeat the same record.

My cousin’s record collection was not much and at a given time, he would have a favourite record which he would play repeatedly. Let us just say, his choice of music was not my choice but after listening to the same record for hours on end when you are trying to study or sleep it ceased to be music, it was crap!

Get a scratch on any of those vinyl records, they scratched very easily, and instead of three or four minutes of the song all you hear is one second repeated over and over. It was OK for my cousin he was so drunk he could sleep through all that racket; it drove me nuts!

The only saving grace from my cousin’s eternal racket was the knowledge that the battery would not last long!

I used to read Vince Musewe’s articles; his was a fresh look at Zimbabwe politics with lots of new ideas.

Ever since he has joined Morgan Tsvangirai in his “big tent” coalition Vince has lost his edge and now he is repeating himself with the monotony of my cousin’s old record player.

“Now we must understand the nature of this beast called ZANU (PF). It fears change and suppresses anything that threatens its hold on power,” wrote Vince in his latest article.

“It does not respect fair competition, despite the fact that it has no idea on how to get out of the economic problems it has created. It does not respect the ballot box as a means to elect government but feels entailed to power.

“It is an archaic patronage system of old men who have no clue or interests in the future we want. It does not see the worth in any talks or dialogue with other Zimbabweans outside ZANU (PF). The sooner we appreciate that the better.”

Please Vince, you are preaching to the converted; we already know this.

It is fair to say by the late 1990s the people of Zimbabwe had reached a consensus that President Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were corrupt and incompetent, and therefore will never deliver mass economic prosperity; and were politically oppressive, and therefore would never allow free and fair elections and regime change.

The people called for democratic change as the only means to ending the political oppression and economic misery.

Indeed Tsvangirai and his friends named their newly formed party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to echo the popular national sentiment of democratic change.

We really do not need you, Vince, or anyone else to remind us that Zanu PF is corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical, we know that. What is so irritating about your repeating yourself about Zanu PF is your deafening silence about MDC.

We had a golden opportunity to implement the democratic changes we all agreed we needed during the GNU. What the hell happened? Are you ever going to talk about why not even one reform was implemented during the GNU?

What is the point of us talking about Zanu PF does “not respect the ballot box as a means to elect government” and when you get a chance to implement the reforms to force Zanu PF to respect the ballot box you do not implement even one reform? Not one!

“So let us put aside our imagined differences and personal ambition for the greater good of Zimbabwe. I think we have an opportunity to reshape our future as a country so that we can revive the economy, create jobs and create a normal society that enjoys basic rights,” continued Musewe.

“Let all the opposition political parties come together and resolve that without the creation of new conditions, they cannot be normality. That is what I am working hard at. How can we define a better future together and agree on what it will look like? How can we move towards that future now without wasting any more time? These are the questions I think we must answer.”

Vince MDC failed to get even one reform implemented in five years in the GNU because Tsvangirai, Biti, Ncube and the rest of the MDC leaders are breathtakingly incompetent and corrupt. These are not just “imagined differences” these are real and critical differences.

If we are serious about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship then we must accept that we will need competent men and women, who will not be easily conned and bribed by President Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs, to implement the democratic reforms.

Tsvangirai, Biti, Ncube, et al will never ever implement the democratic reforms because they have already shown that they are breathtakingly incompetent and corrupt.

Getting all the 2008 GPA reforms implemented will be a lot tougher now than in 2008 to 2013 because there will be no SADC to force Zanu PF to implement the reforms. If Tsvangirai and company failed to implement even one reform when SADC backing them what more now without SADC.

Vince Musewe, if you are sincere about seeking a way out of this political and economic mess then you must be honest and sincere with the people of Zimbabwe and tell them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The truth is that corrupt and incompetent leaders like Tsvangirai, Mujuru, etc. will never deliver any democratic changes or end the economic meltdown because you do not get a silk purse from a sower’s ear!

People like Musewe should not delude the nation with promises of economic and political salvation if only the opposition can unite; if there is no quality in the individual parties, united or not there will still be no quality!

If they believe Tsvangirai has any leadership qualities then they are deluding themselves and they will get their just desserts – the nation will be stuck in this hell for a long, long time!