Wednesday 17 August 2016

MDC-T embrace rogue war veterans like Mahiya out of mercenary political opportunism By Patrick Guramatunhu


Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is a “flawed and indecisive character,” reported American Ambassador to Zimbabwe (2004 to 2007), Christopher William Dell. The report was meant to be top secret for US officials only but it was leaked and made public by WikiLeaks.

Ambassador Dell came to this conclusion after meeting Tsvangirai a few times. We, Zimbabweans particularly those in his party who elected him MDC leader, had known him for years but failed to notice’s he was not leadership material. Even after WikiLeaks report came out flagging Tsvangirai’s serious weaknesses, MDC supporters and the nation at large ignored the warning and went on to vote for him in droves in 2008 and 2013 elections.

Of course Ambassador Dell was right in his assessment of Tsvangirai and subsequent events have proven that Tsvangirai is breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent; MDC’s failure to get even one democratic reform implemented in five years of the GNU is one of the most graphic proof of this. It was MDC’s failure to implement the reforms that allowed President Mugabe to blatantly rig the July 2013 elections and retain to power. If Zimbabweans did not appreciate the seriousness consequences of failing to stop him getting back into power, they do now because the tyrant has done nothing since other than drag the nation deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth.

Zimbabwe facing a serious economic meltdown; unemployment has soared to 90%, up to 76% of the population are now living in abject poverty, basic services like supply of clean running water and electricity are now a luxury, etc. President Mugabe and his cronies are not paying any attention on the economic problems and the tragic human suffering they are causing; they are busy looting and/or fighting amongst themselves over who will inherit the dictatorship from Mugabe.

Looting is big “business” in Zimbabwe. In March this year President Mugabe admitted that $15 billion in diamond revenue was looted is the last six years. Ministers Jonathan Moyo and Kasukuwere have since said a big “chunk” of the $15 billion was looted by former VP Joice Mujuru and her late husband. It is no secret that the two had a diamond mining concession in Marange but they were not the only ones with such looting rights. So the full extent of the wholesale looting and plunder of Marange and Chiadzwa diamonds must be hundreds of billions of dollars!

If Zimbabweans had listened to Ambassador Dell’s warning and ditched the flawed and indecisive Tsvangirai we would not be in this mess. Worse still, because Zimbabweans did not ditch Tsvangirai and his MDC friends after the rigged July 2013 elections they have allowed these corrupt and incompetent idiots to sow confusion and chaos in the nation.

“The Zanu-PF regime, as it continues to fizzle out of power and collapse like a deck of cards, has recently been persecuting and harassing genuine war veterans. The recent arrest of war veterans leaders, Victor Matemadanda and Douglas Mahiya is a case in point,” wrote the MDC-T spokesman, Obert Gutu.

It is a matter of public record that Zanu PF has used rogue war veterans as its storm troopers since 2000 to harass, intimidate, beat, rape and even murder innocent Zimbabweans under the pretext fighting agents of regime change. President Mugabe granted these rogues carte blanche powers to act above the law and they did. The tyrant has rewarded these war veteran thugs with one-off generous war-induced disability grants, pension and school fees allowances.

Rogue war veteran leaders like Jabulani Sibanda, Chris Mutsvangwa and now Victor Matemadanda and Douglas Mahiya have publicly acknowledge their support of President Mugabe and his corrupt and tyrannical rule. They have boosted of their role in keeping the tyrant in power. The last two individuals have described themselves and their fellow rogue war veterans as the “stockholders of Zanu PF and Zimbabwe”, meaning they have the veto over who rules the country and as Zanu PF storm troopers they have wielded their veto alright!

No genuine war veteran would ever accept committing such acts of barbarism against innocent civilians because it goes against the grain of what the war of independence was about! Matemadanda and Mahiya are war veterans in that they did fight in the war of independence just as Emmerson Mnangagwa and even Mugabe himself did. No doubt Obert Gutu will not describe Mnangagwa and Mugabe as “genuine war veterans” because of what they have done since independence; destruction of the economy, the brutal oppression, Gukurahundi massacre, etc.

Until a few months ago Mahiya and his fellow rogue war veterans were fighting to impose the Zanu PF dictatorship; they were not just in the same camp with Mugabe they were his flag bearers! Mahiya and company are angry with President Mugabe not because of his “dictatorial tendencies” as they said; they never noticed that before because they were rewarded. They are angry with him now because he has stopped paying them.

Zimbabwe’s liberation war was fought by those who believed in the cause of freedom and human dignity for all, the genuine war veterans. It was also fought by mercenaries who cared about freedom, liberty, justice and economic prosperity for only themselves and no one else. Mercenaries are renowned for betraying the cause for which they were fighting for yesterday in pursuit of their reward of power and wealth; they appetites for both are insatiable.

Of course President Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies including the rogue war veterans like Mahiya have proven beyond all doubt that they are mercenaries who have betrayed the people and all those genuine war veterans who believed in the struggle for independence.

Both Mai Mujuru and Nelson Chamisa and members from their respective parties, Zim PF and MDC-T attended the court hearings of Mahiya and other rogue war veterans – they were arrested as part of the fall-out with the tyrant. It is one thing for Mujuru and her Zim PF friends to support these war veterans, after all she is still Zanu PF in all but name. MDC-T members and the public at large were the victims of these rogue war veterans’ thuggery!  

As the victims of the Zanu PF tyranny of course any thinking ordinary Zimbabwean is pleased to see Zanu PF thugs fighting amongst themselves and the dictatorship implode. But for anyone, much less opposition leaders like Gutu whose members have been on the receiving end of tyrants like Mahiya and his fellow rogue war veterans, to pretend Mahiya and company are innocent reeks of mercenary political opportunism – same opportunism that turned Mugabe, Mahiya and all the other Zanu PF members into the corrupt and murderous thugs they are today.

“The people of Zimbabwe deserve a new beginning; a fresh and brand new start. The MDC is the government-in-waiting and we are not going to disappoint the long-suffering masses of Zimbabwe,” continued Obert Gutu.

MDC-T is busy recruiting the same rogue war veterans who helped Zanu PF impose the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship with a view of the war veterans doing the same thing for MDC-T; how does that constitute a fresh start for the nation? We are fighting to end the dictatorship and not to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with a MDC-T or Zim PF dictatorship!  

Right now, the people of Zimbabwe have the government they rightly deserve – the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF government complete with its army of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties. A nation that continues to follow blindly someone like Morgan Tsvangirai ten years after they were warned that he is “flawed and indecisive character” and in total disregard of the mountain of evidence proving just how incompetent he is, is setting itself up for failure. We are a failed state, and so will remain until we learn to elect competent leaders!

7 comments:

  1. “It is only authoritarian regimes like, Zanu PF that fear the people,” wrote Jacob Mafume od PDP.

    “Zanu PF should know that social movements such as, #tajamuka, #thisFlag and #thisgown are not terrorist organisations. These social movements are not committing any crimes against the regime for speaking on behalf of every Zimbabwean. They are ordinary citizens who want to change and improve the lives of the people.”

    Yes you are right but how long have we known this? You lot should have implemented the reforms to stop this madness. It is nauseating to have to listen to you complaining now when all this could have been behind us!

    ReplyDelete
  2. "The problems we face can never be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them" (Albert Einstein).

    You started very well my friend but your next line should have been an acknowledgement of the current crop of leaders’ failure and insist that they all resign from public life because they are the ones who created the problems we are facing today and, more significantly, they are incapable of an creative thinking.

    You, Musewe have failed to see these leaders for the failed leaders they are because you cannot think of anything else but securing a position of power for yourself. You keep talking about what you will do once in power but refuse to address the thorny problem of who to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, nothing will ever happen without figuring how to stop Zanu PF rigging elections first!

    ReplyDelete
  3. “This inability to imagine is understandable. In his view, the moral cost for being sympathetic to the war veterans' cause, let alone contemplating an alliance with them in the struggle against Mugabe's presidency, is unbearable. In his article, Ncube cites the war veterans' past history in which they have played a huge part in aiding Mugabe's regime by crushing dissent and the opposition,” you said.

    In all your wittering you have not denied the basic fact that these rogue war veterans have indeed been Mugabe’s storm troopers who have systematically denied the people their freedoms and basic human rights to impose the de facto one-party cum one-man dictatorship. You have also not denied the fact that these rogues have fallen out with Mugabe because the tyrant has failed to pay them their reward for doing his dirty work and not because they have realized that what they were doing was wrong.

    You are arguing the opposition to embrace the war veterans for one reason and one reason only – so they will do for the opposition what they have been doing all these years for Mugabe. In other words you want these war veteran thugs to continue denying the ordinary people their freedoms and basic human rights to impose their new found tyrant be it Mujuru, Tsvangirai or Mnangagwa.

    We are fighting to end the culture of denying people their freedoms and basic human rights to impose a party or individual forever and not to remove Mugabe and replace him with another tyrant, which is what you and other morons out there are proposing! We are going to have a healthy and functional democracy and not swap one dictator for another!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ Paradza

    "I am left wondering why the war veterans have made an about turn against Mugabe if they do not accept they had lost their way and had drifted away from the people," you said.

    You should not be wondering; the rogue war veterans fell out with Mugabe because the tyrant would not pay them their fair share of the spoils of power. When push came to shove and they had the opportunity to enrich themselves these war veterans throw the liberation war values of freedom and human rights for all out of the window and joined Mugabe, Mnangagwa, Mujuru and all the other Zanu PF thugs to secure their own selfish gain.

    People like Joice Mujuru, Dabengwa and Simba Makoni have given half-hearted apologies for their part in the Zanu PF dictatorship but only because they too fell out with Mugabe and they apologized as a way to win the public vote and get back into power. Only the very naive would believe they are being sincere much less that they had their Damascene moment!

    After spending decades as members of the corrupt and tyrannical regime, these people KNEW exactly what they were doing and were paid for their involvement. You apologize for a mistake; this was no mistake but a deliberate and calculated act of betrayal and treason.

    In a way, Mahiya and his fellow war veterans are being honest by refusing to apologize especially when they know they will do the same dirty work for Mnangagwa or whoever is prepared to hire their services! Mai Mujuru and Tsvangirai have both expressed their interests!

    ReplyDelete
  5. In an interview with Violet Gonda Mahiya refuse to discuss much less apologize for the war veterans years of human rights violations including harassment, beatings, rapes and even murders. He insisted discussing the past not being “progressive”! How ironic that Mahiya and his fellow rogue war veterans are accusing Mugabe of “dictatorial tendencies” – the very qualities they had done so much to help him excesses – and yet they are displaying the same dictatorial straits themselves by refusing to be held to account for their past.

    The only measure of progress we want in Zimbabwe is to see an end to the dictatorial rule and replacing it with democracy and the central tenet of democracy is that everyone is accountable, especially those guilty of the heinous human rights violations.

    Some people are asking Mahiya and his rogue war veterans to apologize, a poor substitute for holding these people to account. It is not surprising that both MDC-T and ZimPF are already treating these rogues as if they have never done anything wrong. “MDC has no regrets for showing solidarity with genuine war veterans,” declared Obert Gutu.

    When it comes to getting into power, there is no difference between Zanu PF, rogue war veterans, MDC-T and ZimPF; each will sell their own mother if that will get them into power!

    ReplyDelete
  6. There are war veterans who fought for freedom, human rights and justice for all and have never given to use their own position in society to deny anyone these things. Then there are those war veterans like Mahiya, Sibanda, etc. who have offered their services to tyrants like Mugabe to deny the people their freedoms and rights to impose the Zanu PF dictatorship in return for the share of the spoils of power. The first group are the genuine war veterans and the second are the rogues.

    MDC-T is giving the rogue war veterans a clean bill of health not because they do not know these men and women are thugs, they do know that only too well after all many opposition members including MDC members have been the victims of the thuggery. Tsvangirai and company are pretending the past serious human rights violations never took place because they want these thugs to continue using their dirty tactics but fighting in MDC-T's corner.

    Mai Mujuru and her ZimPF are too wooing the rogue war veterans for the same reason as MDC-T but that is not surprising after all Zim PF is Zanu PF in all but name.

    If anyone has ever doubted that both MDC-T and ZimPF cannot be trust to stick to the democratic agenda without selling-out at the next opportune moment they willingness to sell-out now should remove all lingering doubt. Both MDC-T and ZimPF have sold-out in the past; notably by failing to implement even one reform during the GNU and by playing their part in establishing the Zanu PF dictatorship for 34 years until Mugabe finally booted them out of party, respectively.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Minister Jonathan Moyo warns against Police brutality.

    Since when has Zanu PF ever bothered about being "lawful"? What the regime is concerned about is that Police brutality has been splashed in the social media for the whole world to see. The regime is coming up with the new law designed to criminalize the use of the social media and thus stop the use of the smart phones capturing the evidence of Police brutality!

    ReplyDelete