02 May 2013
By Reason Wafawarova
The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T, together with the
self-destructing MDC led by Welshman Ncube, as well as
other MDC offshoots like the ones led by loud-mouthed
Job Sikhala and Zimbabwe's chief isolate Arthur
Mutambara have all become enigmatic since the
involvement of two of the MDC formations in
governance.
Morgan Tsvangirai has proven to be more immanent than
productive politically, switching from maintaining a
public profile of posturing as an unrelentingly brave
victim of political brutality to a notorious
scandalist known best for an atrociously expensive and
reckless sexual taste.
The meretricious political outfit led by Welshman
Ncube is impressively committed to its pretentious
ways and Ncube himself has perfected the art of
posturing as national leader, and there are dedicated
sections of the media that have immensely helped
Ncube's cause — strictly from a viewpoint of ego
massaging. Meanwhile, the nation plays the
uninterested observer.
Arthur Mutambara is by every means a man of high
intellectual integrity — but he is undoubtedly the
country's chief isolate when it comes to politics.
There simply is no room for the intellectual
excellence of Mutambara in the world of political
mediocrity that once invited the scientist into its
leadership fold, and it would appear Zanu-PF
understands Mutambara's policy depth more than the
people he once led for close to five years.
In 2010 Arthur Mutambara decried the mediocrity that
characterises African politics in general and he
mournfully cited Zimbabwe in particular. He was giving
an interview to a Tanzanian radio station. His opinion
is indisputable, and the current mediocrity in
Zimbabwe's body politic is legendary.
One of the challenges highlighted by Mutambara in that
interview was the issue of the politics of
personality. Right now Morgan Tsvangirai can be
forgiven for believing that he is his party's immortal
"main actor" — a phrase he insensitively used to
describe his lucky escape from a horrendous fatal car
crash that killed his wife in 2009. Morgan Tsvangirai
believes there can be no such thing as the MDC without
his leadership.
There are some members of the MDC-T that have deified
their leader as a democracy god without whom Zimbabwe
has no chance of ever knowing what it means to be
democratic.
There is a worrying trend of the politics of
personalities in Africa, and the idea that political
leaders are elevated to levels of indispensability has
cultivated in its wings the politics of mediocrity.
Deified political leaders thrive on the patronage of
their fanatical subordinates, and incompetent
politicians insulate themselves from the wrath of
scrutiny and accountability by worshipping at the ego
altar of the great leader, who in turn secures their
unwarranted stay in the echelons of political power.
Deified political leaders are vampires that
continually suck the blood of their nations purely on
the basis of maintaining power privileges.
Patronage itself is a product of plutocracy —
essentially the rule of wealth. We have a society that
has synonymised political leadership with wealth and
as such the aspiration of our politicians is often all
wrapped in materialism and self-aggrandisement.
The poignant sorrows of Zimbabwean urban dwellers have
undoubtedly been exacerbated by the disgusting
corruption of ill-intended local government officials
largely from Morgan Tsvangirai's party. In Bulawayo
these officials had no problem prioritising spoiling
themselves with top class luxurious cars while the
city stinks to high heavens with stray sewage. They
even mortgaged the city's most valued building so they
could buy for themselves a fleet of classy cars.
In Masvingo the MDC-T city fathers almost got the
whole city auctioned to compensate unpaid workers. And
the circus rages on.
In Chitungwiza the MDC-T council indiscriminately and
corruptly parcelled land to cronies and to themselves
— even daring to sub-divide sports fields and
wetlands.
Zanu-PF has for years perfected the art of breeding
punctilious pseudo-revolutionaries that know
everything to do with political survival except
serving the people. While the mainstream media often
shies from exposing the ineptness of some of these
politicians, the so-called independent or private
media complements the culture of political mediocrity
by elevating MDC insanity to matters of
democratisation — sanitising every act of foolishness
as some complex act of political manoeuvring.
The error of the Zimbabwean politician is sadly
sanitised and repackaged as glory by a politicised
media that has lost every sense of ethical journalism.
The MDC-T has been vainly wailing about something they
call "political reforms;" reportedly enshrined in the
misnamed Global Political Agreement (GPA) — all the
time insisting that these reforms must precede the
holding of "peaceful free and fair elections". To some
in the MDC the arbiter of free and fair elections is
simply an electoral victory for Morgan Tsvangirai.
Now that the lifespan of the current Parliament ends
on June 29, by which time there will arise a
constitutional need for the election of a new
government; the two MDCs in the inclusive Government
want the lifespan of Parliament extended to year-end
so that these "political reforms" can be achieved
before an election is held.
The pliant private media sees no logic in asking what
it is that makes the MDC officials think they can
achieve in four months by way of political reforms
when they failed to do so in the last five years. If
indeed Zanu-PF has been strong-headed enough to deny
the MDCs these reforms for five years, what makes
anyone think the party can concede to the MDC demands
in the next four months?
The truth is that the MDC once believed that the
inclusive Government was a purgatorial arrangement
where Zanu-PF would proceed to the lake of fire in the
aftermath of the terrible political marriage, and the
Tsvangirai-led MDC-T would be easily elevated to the
glorious heavens — forming the next government.
Now every pointer of common sense is painfully
pointing towards a Zanu-PF victory — thanks to the
mediocrity of its political opponents from the MDC,
and the only way left for the MDC is to stretch the
life of this bastardised coalition — at least to push
a little further the sweet journey of the gravy train.
Much as political mediocrity is at culture levels
within Zanu-PF itself, the truth of the matter is that
every known policy that has been implemented during
this inclusive Government is a Zanu-PF policy, or at
the very least, is attributable to the party.
Quite strategically Zanu-PF revived the 2007
indigenisation policy and the party tactfully made it
the theme of the entire moment of the inclusive
Government. Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere
just easily makes the grade as the most visible player
in the tenure of the inclusive Government.
All the MDC could do is play reactionary to this
revolutionary policy — and for their efforts the MDC
managed to strongly reiterate Zanu-PF's assertion that
their opponents are against pro-people policies, and
that they do so at the instruction of their Western
funders.
The mining sector controlled by a Zanu-PF minister
made so much policy noise during this inclusive
Government that even Tendai Biti was reduced to a mere
winching commentator — not the all-powerful Finance
Minister that he pretends to be whenever he visits
Western capitals.
For all the noise that characterised the entry of the
MDC into governance, the party proved to have
astoundingly awkward priorities. The party made its
entry into Government by grandstanding a massive
imitation of Obama's 2009 entrance into White House —
announcing a high-sounding 100-day plan and some
pretentious policy animal that Mr Biti called STERP,
or something like that; dragging the entire civil
service to a massive launch of this great-for-nothing
policy all the way to Victoria Falls.
After the massive launch of this gigantic policy,
Tsvangirai and his lieutenants embarked on noisy rants
about media reforms, about who gets what position in
the commissions, about security sector reforms, and
about how best Tsvangirai could chair Cabinet –
wherever the ministers could be gathered specifically
for the sole purpose of giving the then brand new PM a
sense of grandeur.
Meanwhile, Zanu-PF managed to keep the MDC politicians
pretty busy fighting for all sorts of high-sounding
nothings; and the party used the opportunity to make
huge strides popularising the economic empowerment
policy — especially through the mining sector.
Now the quandary of how to keep supporting an inept
MDC led by a scandalous Tsvangirai is the main
occupation of the minds of those who in the past took
the party for a formidable opposition alternative.
The effort to portray as rapine both the land reform
programme and the indigenisation policy now badly
backfires as provocative Western rhetoric, and the MDC-T
has been totally silenced inasfar as slandering the
policies of Zanu-PF is concerned. To the ordinary
Zimbabwean there is simply no policy alternative to
the policies of Zanu-PF, and the MDC is simply not
identifiable with policy.
The stabilising economy somewhat vindicates the
credibility of the land reform programme, and clearly
the indigenisation policy has been embraced by
Zimbabweans from across the political divide.
The MDC has been incapacitated in its traditional
opposition rhetoric — thanks to the GPA that brought
it into Government — exposing fully the ineptitude of
its leadership.
Before the MDC joined Zanu-PF in governing the country
they always wailed loud and hoarse that Government
does not work.
To their credit the party indisputably proved it once
the leaders got into Government — especially through
the MDC-T-controlled urban councils. As it stands in
Masvingo every resident must be convinced that council
does not work.
Political mediocrity thrives so well in an environment
of political polarity, politicised media, selfish
aspiration, shallowness in policy, unmeritorious
candidature, propaganda, and a culture of materialism.
Zimbabwe currently has this full concoction and this
is why the MDC needs political rallies more than they
need policy.
Morgan Tsvangirai shines better shouting anything
against Zanu-PF at a political rally than he would
when explaining himself at a development policy forum.
He is even better explaining how natural it is for him
to sleep around with anyone that agrees; since in
Tsvangirai's world that is the behaviour to which
every bachelor is entitled.
Apart from bringing to the fold a few policy-oriented
loners like Nelson Chamisa and Arthur Mutambara, the
MDC can fairly be accused of exonerating Zanu-PF from
its policy shortcomings.
Senator Morgan Femai makes Zanu-PF policies
super-angelic by his mere ignorance. What are
Zimbabweans supposed to make of a Senator whose policy
proposal on HIV and Aids is compulsory shabbiness for
all women? That is the world-class brilliance found in
the MDC-T.
Importantly Senator Femai only shows how Zimbabwe has
elevated pub-talk to matters of formalised national
debate. That is the power of mediocrity.
It is this writer's hope that the 2013 election will
deal a good blow to the political mediocrity. It is
time we elect meritorious leaders who can help take
the country where it belongs among the nations.
Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome.
It is homeland or death!!
Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in
Sydney, Australia.
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