Is Nkosana Moyo the One? – a reply to Ken Mufuka

By Dr Amai va Hazvinei  Mushonga

Baba Hazvinei, the man whose name I now share, alerted me to the day I became famous.  Thursday 14 June 2017. Check it out on: Letter from America: Is Nkosana Moyo the one?

Growing up in rural Midlands in the mid-80s and early 90s we did not have access to newspapers. But, whenever someone came home from ‘town’, they almost always brought a newspaper. For me, this was a cherished possession.

So what if I read it from cover to cover and understood very little? So what if I thought that there were always 38 ‘Houses for Sale’ every day on account of the Classifieds section having them under column 38? So what if I thought there was a company called ‘Defray Expenses’ because dry cleaners always advertised in the Classifieds that goods not collected within a certain period ‘would be sold to defray expenses’?

But you see, Baba Hazvi, I am now famous. No, not because I got myself published here and there both in newspapers and some peer reviewed journals, that does not count. I got cited by the great Ken Mufuka, who has been writing his letter from America since those days of my youth.

Oh, how I used to love reading his letters. I honestly think that my first lucid thought about going to America was so that once there, I too would also write a letter from America. I have visited the place twice, and sent a few emails from there, but that is not quite the same thing, is it?

So what if he thinks my name is Hazvinei Mushonga, that is after all our daughter. The point is, he quoted me, and said l made a ‘powerful argument’! Yes, Baba Hazvi, I know that he goes on to then disagree with almost everything I said but, the great Ken Mufuka in his letter from America cited me!

But enough of that. I must reply, and sadly disagree with my hero.

As a nation, I think we sell our country down the river if we allow ourselves to believe that an otherwise qualified and arguably good candidate fails because he is ‘too nice.’ That someone needs to be the ‘baddest son of a gun’ to be President of Zimbabwe says to me let us remove one Philistine (as uncle Ken Mufuka says) with another. What’s the point of that? Better to stay with the one we have, at least we know that even if he wins again in 2018, divine intervention is not too far away. Why replace a dying Philistine with a younger one?

Yes, Zanu PF might have representatives in every village, even in Muzarabani as uncle Ken says. But here is the thing: the fight to remove Mugabe is a Zimbabwe people’s project, not a Nkosana Moyo project. And we, the people of Zimbabwe, do not only have representatives in every village, but we have then in every hut, hovel, house and shack in that village, even in Muzarabani. Every heart that beats and pumps Zimbabwe blood bleeds with pain at the ruin that the current ‘baddest son of a gun’ has visited upon us. If we all decide that, like Dennis the Menace to Mrs Wilson, that we needed ‘the nicest old gal of the block’, then surely the man that uncle Ken calls ‘too clean’ fits the bill?

Uncle Ken finds justification for the coalition in that ‘we need all hands on deck.’ However, he cannot point to any election where all the combined votes for the opposition were more than those of the Philistine RGM. While he does refer to 2008, I have already gone on record confirming that I think Tsvangirai alone won that election, with both Makoni and the Philistine losing. So, where is the evidence that ‘all hands on deck’ sans (without) anything else will defeat the Philistine hydra? What are we trying to avoid by putting hands together, when we have never ever split the vote in a way that would have allowed Tsvangirai to win?

And uncle Ken fails to engage with one crucial fact: logic, logic, logic. But he is not alone: the opposition too have not been ratiocinative on this. Tsvangirai has lost every election since 2002 except the one in 2008. The major different feature of 2008 is that there was a credible third candidate in the race. Why has no-one cottoned on to the idea that perhaps, Makoni not only activated his own new voters, but got MDC supporters that would have otherwise stayed at home to think ‘wait a minute, I better go and vote because with Makoni in the race my guy needs my vote.’ I know this for a fact because I thought it at the time.

So, while I am giddy with joy because my hero knows I exist, I feel a tinge of regret that I must disagree with uncle Ken on this one. Yes, if Moyo does come on board and starts copying what everyone has done before him, then I will have concerns. Large rallies in towns are like fishing in your chirongo, so please no. Like someone said in a Whatsapp group I now belong to, somehow, I don’t think Dr Moyo got where he is by copying. I am expecting a campaign that will wow and mesmerise the Philistine. Then, uncle Ken, drinks will be on you.

Dr Amai va Hazvinei  Mushonga (Harare)