There has to be a word for a seemingly ‘inordinate fascination with politics’ that drives some of my colleagues to leave behind established careers to start a new career as a politician.
Politicophilia is the ‘excessive love for or obsession with politics.’ The word excessive is my addition to the word search.
I was walking down Angwa towards Karigamombe just before the old QV pharmacy when I came across an entourage with a suited gentleman (Morgan Tsvangirai) in the middle with Luke Tamborinyoka flanking him.
This was to happen again at the National Art Gallery when I met the two and their entourage.
Of course, on both occasions, I greeted Tamborinyoka whom I knew as Mhofu (clan name) or “Secretary General” during his Zimbabwe Union of Journalist 9ZUJ) days and was completely oblivious of his illustrious former boss.
On the second occasion musician Oliver Mtukudzi was also present with his then publicist Shepherd Mutamba who later turned on Mtukudzi and wrote a negative book about him.
It’s not every day one bumps into the leading opposition figure since Zanu PF came to power in 1980, Tsvangirai.
Politics itself cannot be accused of showing mutual love in return to former journalists on any merit; being, as it has been called, a dirty game.
My former colleagues in the media like Geoff Nyarota and Luke Tamborinyoka were doing exceptionally well in the media but inexplicably abandoned generational talents and joined active politics.
Tamborinyoka had the distinction of excelling in his new career as Morgan Tsvangirai’s last spokesperson.
Another colleague William Bango was the first official spokesperson, before James Maridadi left his shoe-in job as daytime DJ and Junior 3 presenter on the old Radio 3.
In their old jobs you could literally trust these colleagues with your life, Tamborinyoka especially, first as an ANZ part time unionist on the old, but successful, The Daily News. Working with star journalist Sandra Nyaira and other professionals they bargained fairly but hard.
Tamborinyoka became Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists back when it meant tackling Jonathan Moyo daily, the minister who would decisively closed credible Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) then owned by Strive Masiyiwa and other shareholders, using AIPPA, the law described as “draconian.”
Moyo fought battles of attrition with the full might of the State in which there could only be one winner.
Describing those days Tamborinyoka says: “I am proud of my history as a journalist, where I won several awards at a time when journalism was really a hard hat area. I was overwhelmingly elected ZUJ Secretary General at a Congress in Masvingo in October 2002 and I immediately took the government to court over AIPPA.
“I played my part in pushing back media repression in Zimbabwe and was arrested quite a number of times, including facing a charge of criminally defaming former President Robert Mugabe, a charge which later died of stillbirth.”
“Journalism remains my beloved background where I was the chief news editor of the Daily News by the time I left journalism in October 2005 to join politics as the MDC’s Director of Communications.”
Tamborinyoka has released a book he wrote about his days with Tsvangirai. His candid approach has attracted mixed reactions, to put it mildly.
Concerns over ‘letting the dead rest’ and “respecting the memory of the dead” dominated responses. Zimbabweans have the saying: ‘Wafa anaka.’ Memories of the dead should almost always be flattering.
Asked about this approach and if his candour is disrespectful, he said:
“People cannot comment about a book they have not read. They must not rush to comment solely based on a clip of one or two paragraphs of an introduction to the book by the author, whose introduction is not necessarily the book itself but only sought to give context and background to the narrative.”
“But anyway, readers are entitled to their own opinions.”
“But maybe let me clarify one thing here. By giving readers in the book’s introduction a sneak peek into Dr Tsvangirai’s known weakness, which frailties are already in the public domain anyway; all I sought to do was to portray the man as he truly was.”
“Dr Tsvangirai was no saint. He was a mortal being. He was only human, like all of us; a fallible individual with frailties like the rest of human kind. And those weaknesses are part of what makes him a hero.
“For heroes are neither deities nor saints but ordinary people with defects and blemishes like all of us.
“What makes them valiant and what sets them apart is that they are able to override their imperfections and soar above the mediocrity of their time to positively impact societies, nations and generations.”
“And Dr Tsvangirai was part of this special creed.”
“By giving just a sneak of his known weakness, I only sought to show my readers that heroes are not extra-ordinary people who do extraordinary things. True heroes are ordinary people who do extraordinary things.”
“Indeed, true heroes are ordinary people like Dr Tsvangirai who rise above their imperfections to positively impact a society, a nation and future generations.”
“That’s what true heroes are about and Dr Tsvangirai was one such hero; an imperfect man who created a near-perfect moment in his land; a fallible man who rose above his known frailties to positively impact an entire nation and etch his name in history as a gallant and valiant son of the soil.”
Zimbabwe’s media history has often been polarised—with figures either attacked relentlessly or elevated beyond critique. Was he trying to offer a more balanced historical account? If so, why?’
He responded: “I was not in any way seeking to create a balanced account. The book only offers Dr Tsvangirai a platform to offer rich reflections about his moments, the main moment being his stint in government as a key State actor as Prime Minister of the land.”
“I believe honest reflections strengthen legacies. What can only diminish legacies, I believe, is dishonesty and manicured history.
“There is no need to manicure and pedicure history especially if we want posterity to derive lessons from it. Frankness is wealth. Dishonesty is poverty.”
The one sided government aligned media insured by AIPPA and its restrictions has promoted a siege mentality where opposition feels media coverage is always ‘them against us.’
While this is understandable, for some there is no escaping accountability and the need for media reforms and their benefits to any meaningful opposition.
Choices must be informed by balanced coverage. I believe this gap is being filled by books by experienced journalists like Tamborinyoka and Geoff Nyarota.
Excerpts about Tsvangirai’s relationships with various women torched a storm. Tamborinyoka wrote with surprising candor and honesty about his old boss. He confirmed the rumours. Some stories spilled over into the courts but people are still in denial.
The book draws on candid conversations with Morgan Tsvangirai before his passing in 2018. I wondered: ‘What compelled Tamborinyoka to publish these reflections now, and what responsibility did he feel in handling such material?’
He responded: “Indeed, these reflections were solicited in structured interviews that took place between 2013 and 2018 specifically for this book.
“As I state in the book’s introduction, I was initially working on this book with Dr Tsvangirai and that is why he made reference to this book in his last public statement to the people of Zimbabwe on 8 January 2018, the day before he left for South Africa where he untimely passed on. That statement is in the public domain.”
“And as I state in my introduction in the book, the delay in the book’s publication had to do with my five years of scholarship at the University of Zimbabwe as well as the two gruelling election campaigns in 2018 and 2023, all of which detained my attention.”
Tamborinyoka’s unique positions—close insider and trained journalist might be considered conflicted by some. Asked how he navigated these issues he responded:
“Actually I did not have to navigate anything. I simply used my skills as a journalist to ask questions and to write the narrative as a book.
“And as I state in my introduction, the book is in every respect a very subjective account on the issues that happened, and that it tackles the issues from Dr Tsvangirai’s perspective.”
“So unlike a journalistic account, this book is a subjective account because it is a biography.”
“As a journalist I only asked the questions, including the hard questions. But the book being a biography, is of course a subjective narrative that views events from Dr Tsvangirai’s perspective.
“And I believe he was largely honest in his reflections, sometimes even acknowledging his own weaknesses, as you might have noticed if you read the book.”
“Even memoirs and insider accounts too are one-sided, but I believe they are a treasure trove of important history. Memoirs and insider accounts offer us close-to-the-pulse narratives that sometimes help us understand history.
“I believe memoirs and insider accounts sometimes go a step further to offer us rich contexts and deeper understandings of motives and why certain events happened, and why they happened in the way they happened.”
Wait a minute: some argue that openness about internal weaknesses in opposition politics may fuel critics. Others say accountability must begin within. Where does he stand?
“We all want openness, transparency and accountability. But then openness does not mean nakedness. Not necessarily in any order of importance, I think time, platform and context matter.
“Sometimes it’s about the “where” and the “when” that the openness is taking place. So I believe “where” and “when” are strategic nuances that are important in answering that question.”
Tamborinyoka concedes: “From a position of knowledge, I can safely tell you that honest reflections do take place within opposition institutions, at least in those in which I served. But whether or not those reflections are used to inform the future is an entirely different matter.”
“I am not and was not a member of his family. I only largely interacted with him professionally for many years and that obviously limits my knowledge of him in his space as a private individual.
“But within the limitations of what I knew about him, in both his public and private life, he was a sincere man in all that he did. He genuinely loved people and loved his country.
“In both his private and his public life, he was a man of love, in all its various dimensions and manifestations. That is why it may have been epiphanic that he died on St Valentine’s day, on the day that the power of love is celebrated worldwide.”
Asked if he anticipated the backlash to certain excerpts he replied: “Readers are entitled to their views. I only tried, to a very limited extent, to be true and honest to the man that he truly was.”
Asked if he sees the book as closing a chapter—or opening space for more fearless, reflective writing about Zimbabwe’s political and business leaders Tamborinyoka concluded:
“I did not seek to open or close any chapter. I’m not a butler. I only did my part in telling Dr Tsvangirai’s honest story in his own recorded views. The seven chapters of the book honestly and sincerely reflect his views.
“What others may choose to write about in the future, who they choose to write about and how they choose to write about it is entirely their own business. I choose not to be anyone’s editor by telling anyone how and about who they should write.”
To buy the book click here: Morgan Tsvangirai – Service and Sacrifice
