Musewe advises "failed" Zanu PF, PDP, MDC-T, Zim PF, etc. "to step aside" - pity does not heed own words! By P Guramatunhu

The admission by Vince Musewe that both Zanu PF and the country’s opposition must be excluded from playing any role in our search for the way out of this political and economic hell these corrupt and incompetent politicians have landed us in was the best piece of good news I have heard in years!  

"The PDP's justification for calling for such a Transitional body as the NTA (National Transition Authority) is that Zimbabwe's woes cannot be fixed by the same crop of failed leaders who created it. The PDP firmly believes that it is time that both ZANU PF and the disjointed opposition movements stepped aside and gave Zimbabwe a genuine chance at economic and social recovery," he said (Bulawayo 24 Opinion).

Sadly I have known Mr Musewe long enough to know that when it comes himself and his friends in the opposition camp being excluded from taking part in politics, he did not meaning a single word he said. For any of the readers who have not read his original article the above quotation was his concluding paragraph, in the rest of the article he went into a great deal of detail on the structure and tasks of the NTA.

If he really believed (or be it belatedly) that our current political leaders from both sides of the political divide must “step aside” because they “the same crop of failed (my emphasis) leaders” who landed us in the hell-hole in the first place; then why is he spending all this time telling us what to do? He should listen to his own advice and step aside!

Mr Musewe has been so desperate to be elected into political office these last two years he has praised to the heaven the same politicians he now dismiss as “failed leaders” and even argued that the nation must grant then key roles just to increase his chance of being elected and get on Zimbabwe’s political the gravy train. He has argued that we must embrace Tsvangirai, Biti, Mujuru, etc. as the leaders to get us out of the hell-hole and refused to even acknowledge their historic record of corruption, incompetent and out and out selling-out.

At one point Musewe wanted his NTA headed by President Mugabe and to agree upfront there will be no meaningful reforms and free and fair elections at the end of the day, just to appease the tyrant. All he was after was a chance to get into power even if new arrangement delivered no meaningful change just as the last GNU had done. Mr Musewe and those behind him had to be told in no uncertain terms that any arrangement that does not guarantee free and fair elections at the end of the day was a complete waste of time.

The main criticism of his present NTA proposal is in fact just that – it does not offer free and fair elections at the end of the day. Both PDP and MDC-T are calling for the realignment of existing laws to the 2013 constitution although they have been told a thousand times that will not be enough to guarantee free and fair elections because the new constitution is weak.

“Zimbabwe also needs a new constitution. It must be the genuine product of a national dialogue that embodies our hopes and aspirations, unconstrained by our fears; it must be founded on a strong Bill of Rights, and elicit the best in us,” wrote Trevor Ncube in a recent article.

“The current document is the outcome of horse-trading between Zanu-PF and the two MDC factions. It fails to lay a strong foundation of the rule of law, strong national institutions, transparency and accountability. And, of course, the sanctity of life and respect for private property must find full expression.”

The one useful thing to come out of the GPA was that SADC helped set the benchmark we require to have free, fair and credible elections – implement a raft of democratic reforms and draft a new democratic constitution. MDC failed to get even one reform implemented and made a dog’s breakfast on the new constitution.

The country’s worsening economic meltdown has been a very dark storm cloud with the one silver lining; it has put President Mugabe and Zanu PF under great pressure to accept meaningful political change as the only way to achieve meaningful economic recovery. We already know what that meaningful political change is – implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA and to replace the current “horse-trading” constitution with a new truly democratic one. The last thing we need is the like of Vince Musewe throwing the spanner in the works with his time wasting advice to realign existing laws to a weak constitution.

No Mr Musewe please take your own wonderful advice to “failed leaders” in Zanu PF, PDP, MDC-T, ZimPF, etc. to “step aside” and step aside yourself. You are one of the people whose desire to hold public office and get on this notorious Zanu PF inspired gravy train has become a dangerous obsession clouding your thinking and judgement. For the good of the long suffering people of Zimbabwe you must just resign from all political activities because you are only clouding the issues and confusing the electorate. Please step aside yourself, Vince. Thank you, in advance!