By Calisto Mudzingwa
Dear Fellow Zimbabweans,
In its entirety, the MDC-T leadership is gullible—very gullible, actually. Not withstanding the replete evidence of the gullibility of the then MDC, now MDC-T, its die-hard supporters have consistently denied that their leadership is a gullible lot.
The latest testament to their gullibility is the Norton By-Election: Their massive support for Temba Mliswa, the freshly minted MP for Norton speaks volume about their gullibility. MDC-T abandoned their resolution of not ‘participating’ in elections to support Temba Mliswa’s bid for the Norton seat. By supporting him, they demonstrated two things; a lack of principle and second, that they are as gullible as ever!
After his ‘victory’, Temba Mliswa paid a courtesy call not to Mr Tsvangirai but to his ZANU PF comrade, Savior Kasukuwere. The picture of Temba Mliswa the ‘victor’, and Saviour Kasukuwere the ‘vanquished’ says it all. A picture is worth more than a thousand words!
Not surprising at all, Mliswa managed to pull wool over the eyes of the naïve MDC-T and convinced them to campaign for him. Typical of ZANU PF mentality, for Mliswa, the end justified the means. After the picture of Temba Mliswa (the victor in the eyes of MDC-T) and Savior Kasukuwere (the vanquished in the eyes MDC-T) was published in many newspapers, it simply confirmed what all rationale Zimbabweans having been saying all along—that Mliswa is ZANU PF.
To the dismay of many, MDC-T does not even see Mliswa as being ZANU PF. To demonstrate MDC-T’s gullibility even further, Mr Tsvangirai, the president of the MDC-T is going to Norton on Saturday, November 18th to thank the people of Norton for their support and bravery when they voted for Mliswa. Please do not get me wrong, I am not saying Mr Tsvangirai should not go to Norton.
Actually, he should go there to explain and acknowledge that— as usual—the MDC-T was duped. On behalf of his leadership team, Mr Tsvangirai should also apologize to the residents of Norton who went to hell and back during the campaigning period. The very fact that the MDC-T leadership still fail to analyze such a very rudimentary scenario makes one wonder whether they will ever be astute, discerning, perceptive, wise….. No wonder why Robert Mugabe outfoxes MDC-T at every turn.
Going back to the Norton by election, many of us found it weird that the MDC-T actively campaigned for Mliswa when prior to this by-election they gifted ZANU PF with all those seats left vacant when some naïve then MDC-T MPs joined Biti’s hare-brained project (People’s Democratic Party).
After vigorously campaigning for Mliswa, with Nelson Chamisa getting a taste of teargas, we thought that the MDC-T had made a U-Turn and decided to ‘participate’ in elections. But, true to character, MDC-T once again announced that they would no longer ‘participate’ in elections until electoral reforms are fully implemented.
This means they will not ‘participate’ in Chimanimani and Bikita-West by elections. Like all those who are gullible, MDC-T constantly flip-flops. For one thing, I admire ZANU PF for sticking to their guns; if they pass a resolution, they stick to it no matter what. To make it clear, that’s where my admiration for ZANU PF begins and ends.
Bond notes are just one example out of the many examples that demonstrate how ZANU PF is principled. People can and will put up tenacious fights against the imposition of bond notes, but we all know the outcome — bond notes will become legal tender in Zimbabwe, no matter what. The reason is very simple: ZANU PF decided that that’s the way to go, and it shall be so. I know some people will argue that it’s being dictatorial. Bad as it may be, they are principled. If there is anything the MDC-T should have learned from ZANU PF during the Government of National Unity (GNU) era, it’s being principled.
Any mention of the GNU is a constant reminder of the gullibility of MDC-T, then MDC. In fact, this will go down in history as the greatest demonstration of the gullibility of MDC as a party. MDC (now fragmented into different splinter groupings) may justify the GNU whichever way they want, the fact remains the same: They were duped into legitimizing the illegitimate! There is absolutely no need to dwell on this issue since it’s a well-trodden territory.
My fellow Zimbabweans, as you can see, I have deliberately avoided saying that the leader of MDC-T is gullible for the simple reason that MDC-T claim to be a democratic party with a democratic decision making process. They claim that unlike ZANU PF where power is centralized with and in a single individual, MDC-T is a democratic entity, and consequently, in my view, their entire leadership should take the blame for their extreme gullibility.
My fellow Zimbabweans, I leave you with two simple questions: First, should we entrust the running of our beloved Zimbabwe to an extremely gullible group? Second, if we are fixing on entrusting this group with the huge responsibility of running our country (by voting them into power in 2018), are we then not equally gullible —via transitivity of course?
Your Fellow Countryman,
Calisto Mudzingwa
PS I am not saying we should keep ZANU PF in power, in case that’s what you were thinking.