Musewe calls for multiparty democracy but "managed" into a coalition - double Dutch to escape GPA reform. By P Guramatunhu

Ever since Vince Musewe declared his support for the Tsvangirai and Mujuru led coalition he has he become dangerously single track-minded. Instead of letting the facts and reason lead he has been bending the facts and ignoring reason his pursuit of this MDC/PF coalition. He is now so desperate to see all opposition parties joining in he is even selling the coalition as a multiparty democracy!

 

“We therefore must hasten to engender a deliberate synthesis of diverse opposition political parties into a collective democratic effort that seeks to dislodge Mugabe's dictatorship whose days are surely numbered,” writes Vince. 

“The idea that a singular political entity can represent all our diverse aspirations is an unattainable fallacy fraught with the potential of manipulation. It is most likely to result in the entrenchment of specific individuals with specific political motives and interests which will invariably work against popular common interests. This we have learnt from the ZANU (PF) political hegemony of the last 36 years.”

 

So Vince wants all the opposition parties to merge into one body to dislodge Zanu PF and yet still acknowledges the merger is “an unattainable fallacy” that will only led us back to yet another de facto one party dictatorship.  

“We must do our utmost to work towards a multiparty inclusive democracy if we are to rescue our country and our future, but that multiplicity of political interests must be managed in a constructive manner to avoid unnecessary contestation and strife which continue to divides us and inadvertently gives advantage to the dictator,” continued Vince.

 

This is what comes out of trying to twist facts and reason to suit one’s nonsensical argument; he started with “a multiparty inclusive democracy” but wanted it “managed in a constructive manner” to produce a one party state just as President Mugabe has done. No doubt he would argue until the cows come home that Mugabe did not manage the merger in a constructive manner. Given a chance, President Mugabe would foam, as he always does when he is worked up, arguing the de facto one-party dictatorship brought unity, peace and, above all, it is what the nation wanted!

 

MDC should have dislodged Zanu PF from power a long time ago if Tsvangirai had not waste one chance after another to do so. The best chance was during the GNU, all MDC had to do was implement the democratic reforms already agreed in the GPA with Zanu PF and SADC. MDC had five years to do so but still failed to get even one reform implemented.

 

Not even one reform implemented because the MDC leaders are corrupt, incompetent and they sold-out. Vince has discounted this historic fact because acknowledging it will per se rule out Tsvangirai and company as suitable candidates to lead the nation going forward.

 

During the GNU the two MDC factions were working together and therefore to suggest that MDC failed to get the reforms implemented during the GNU because they were not united is rubbish.

 

Zimbabwe’s opposition parties have failed to end the Zanu PF dictatorship because there are no quality leaders in these parties, period. Period! Who are we fooling but ourselves by denying the obvious?

 

Bringing all the mediocre opposition parties together in one grand coalition will not address the quality deficiency problem in any way. Unlike quantity which is the sum of the individual units in the coalition; quality suffers because it tends to be the lowest common ground.

 

Recycling corrupt and incompetent leaders like Tsvangirai and Mujuru and hope against hope that they will shock us and be the honest and competent leaders we wish them to be is sheer folly. They are corrupt and incompetent, their track records is there for all to see. Those seeking to recycle these fail leaders are just too lazy to seek honest and competent leaders or they have an invested selfish interest in keeping corrupt and incompetent leaders in power.

 

It is not just President Mugabe and his cronies who have benefited from Zimbabwe’s corrupt and chaotic system; there are many others who too have profited and hence want to retain the status quo.

 

If anyone is serious about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship - we all know what we must be done already - implement the GPA democratic reforms. SADC reminded MDC what to do throughout the GNU. So why are we wasting time with all this double Dutch nonsense which not dismantle the dictatorship but only give it a new name!

 

If Zimbabwe’s opposition parties were not so mediocre then they would be united in demanding the full implementation of the GPA reforms because free, fair and credible elections are in democratic parties’ interest and everyone right across the political divide. Free, fair and credible election is the one thing that should unite all Zimbabweans because we all want to end the tyranny, corruption and criminal waste of human and material resources – free fair and credible elections is the answer!

 

What Musewe want us to do is to forgot implementing the reforms and concentrate on building this opposition coalition round Tsvangirai and Mujuru. His hope is the coalition will have amassed enough support to still win the next elections regardless Zanu PF’s attempt to rig the elections. This is exactly what Tsvangirai was banking on to happen in 2013 elections only to be bowled over by Zanu PF’s rigging scheme. It is highly probable that Zanu PF will bamboozle Tsvangirai and Mujuru come the next elections just they did to Tsvangirai in 2013.

 

Zimbabweans should have been concentrating all their political pressure on demanding the implementation of the GPA reforms; MDC-T electoral law reforms, Musewe’s MDC/PF coalition, etc. have all been a distraction. President Mugabe is under great pressure from his own party imploding and the worsening economic meltdown; he has no choice but to accept political reform as a way out. Our task is to make sure he understands the only acceptable reforms are the GPA reforms but the confusion caused by MDC-T, etc. has given him hope that he does not have to accept any reforms.

 

Whilst our attention must remain fixed on forcing Zanu PF to accept GPA reforms followed by free, fair and credible elections as the only way to end the country crisis we must, however, kept an eye on what people like Tsvangirai and Musewe are doing. By failing to implement the reforms during the GNU Tsvangirai gave entrapped Mugabe a bolt hole to escape, we must not allow that to happen again. Musewe’s multiparty democracy but managed to form a one-party coalition, double Dutch, is just another bolt-hole for Zanu PF to escape implementing the reforms again.