Let
me say this upfront so there is no misunderstanding. I have met Moses Chamboko
and found he has the very rare quality I admire most in anyone, man or woman –
the ability to think! He has penned off some thought provoking articles but do
not just take my word for it, google and see for yourself!
But
just because I consider Moses one of the bright stars in the Zimbabwe political
sky it does not mean I agree with everything he says or does. I do not and
offer no apology for doing so; what I do offer is my reasons why I disagree.
Good reasons I hope, but you can be the judge. It is in this light of open and
honest debate that I reply his latest article “Unmasking 'Patrick Guramatunhu' and 'Nomsa Garikai' Bulawayo24.
“In a democracy, everyone is entitled to their view. It is not a
crime for 13 million Zimbabweans to have 13 million different opinions on a
single subject. What is wrong and totally unacceptable is to promote the
misconception that only your views are correct and matter,” kicked off Moses.
13 million Zimbabweans and
only 13 million different opinions
on a single subject! No wonder Zimbabwe is in a real mess; too many people out
there must be fast asleep. Man is a creature of reason and thus capable of
holding all the different sheds of opinion in colour, texture, time, space, etc.
One must never ever be content with monochrome or binary view of the world when
there are all the colours of the rainbow to consider!
Yes, there are some views which
one must hold and stick to like a stamp to a letter because they are factual.
Once it is established and agreed that a compass always points North, for
example, only the feeble minded would accept it is the compass and not the
navigator’s fault when you are lost. Even if the 100% majority said the compass
sometimes points East; that changes nothing, a compass set properly will always,
always point North!
One must not confuse
principle stand with stubbornness, the one is buttressed by reason and the latter
is a wandering albatross, going wherever the air currents of public whim takes
it. When you live in country like Zimbabwe where public opinion is governed by
ignorance and fear and they look up to the politicians to give direction it is
not surprising that the nation should find itself seriously lost!
“However, it becomes a
concern if someone comes across as elevating himself to the level of an angelic
analyst whose intention is to carve a career out of attacking Morgan Tsvangirai
or other opposition players,” wrote Moses, getting to the meat of his criticism.
“It gets worse if this
comes from someone who claims to be anti-ZANU PF. I have read many of Wilbert
Mukori's articles. There is not one where he does not attack Tsvangirai for not
implementing democratic reforms which Wilbert often confuses with electoral
reforms.”
On contrary, I am not
carving “a career” or anything for myself. Here are my reasons for attacking Tsvangirai
for not implementing the democratic reforms, etc.
1)
It is true that Tsvangirai
failed to implement the democratic reforms during the GNU and because of this
failure Mugabe was able to rig the 2013 election landing us all in this mess. All
those who deny this is so must put up, tell us why Mugabe was able to rig the
elections if the reforms had been implemented.
Yes, Mugabe and Zanu PF
dragged us into this political and economic mess but we cannot deny we had the
golden opportunity to get out during the GNU only if Tsvangirai had implemented
the reforms.
2)
Having established the
fact that Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to implement not even one
democratic reform in five years of the GNU, the next thing is to establish why.
They knew about the reforms because SADC leaders reminded them; Samuel Sipepa
Nkomo has admitted this even if the others MDC leaders continue to hide behind
their little fingers.
The only logical explanation
why MDC leaders failed to implement the reforms is because they are corrupt –
Mugabe bribed them with gravy train lifestyles, the $4 million Highlands
mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. – and incompetent. MDC leaders had no clue what
democratic changes we need much less how they were going to be implemented
during the GNU; many still have no clue even now.
3)
We still need the reforms
implemented if we are ever going to have free, fair and credible elections. So
the search is on for who will implement the reforms.
Moses Chamboko and many
others are suggesting that Tsvangirai is our man to lead the nation out of this
hell. They want nothing said about Tsvangirai’s past record and will attack all
who dare bring up the subject. I dared and so they are attacking me. The nation’s
fate is at stake here and it would be irresponsible to allow misplaced egos win
the day.
Tsvangirai did not make a
mistake in failing to get even one reform implemented during the GNU; he failed
because he is corrupt and incompetent. It was us, the people, who made a
mistake of failing to scrutinise the MDC leaders. Our failure to separate the
wheat from the chuff is at the very heart of why Zimbabwe is in a mess and,
more significantly, unless we take the task of electing competent leaders with
the seriousness the matter demands, will never get out of the mess.
This time we have a
mountain of evidence to show that Tsvangirai et al are corrupt and incompetent.
It would be sheer folly to ignore the evidence elect him leader again.
4)
Those who say Tsvangirai,
Mujuru, Biti, Mugabe, Mnangagwa and all the other scrap on our political stage is
all the nation has, the next leader must come from one of them, are refusing to
think outside the box.
Mugabe has made Zimbabwe politics
a dirty game where one must be prepared to cheat, bribe, harass, beat, rape and
even kill one’s political critics, opponents and voters to stay in power. It is
little wonder then that politics has become the choice career of thugs,
gangsters, failed lawyers and all the other scumbags of Zimbabwe society.
If we want competent
leaders to get us out of this hell-hole then we must end the Zanu PF
dictatorship by allowing open debate and democratic competition. The first truly
free and hard-hitting media will force Joice Mujuru out of the presidential
race by rubbishing her hen’s teeth story
of being “puppy blind” for 34 years, for example!
5)
The GNU was meant to clean
it up Zimbabwe’s dirty and dangerous politics it did not for reasons stated
above. To hold the next elections with no reforms if down right stupid. We must
own up and admit we made a mistake, there is greater shame in ploughing on
heedless and have yet another rigged election.
We need another GNU to same
task of implementing the democratic reforms but with the subtle difference of
having different players and not the corrupt and incompetent lot of the first
GNU.
If the 2018 elections are
not free, fair and credible then we will all hang our heads in shame – 38 years
after independence and we still cannot say what we need for free and fair
elections and have it done! I will bet my bottom dollar the next elections will
be rigged if we do not implement the reforms first!
Tsvangirai won 73% of the
vote in 2008, by Mugabe’s own admission, and yet the tyrant was able to “cook”
the result turning a 73 into a 47. How is uniting all the opposition into a
coalition going to stop Mugabe “cooking” the count yet again?
As for Moses asking who
wrote the articles me or Patrick. It is the message you should be concerned
with and not the messenger!
We should all be fighting
to ensure we have free, fair and credible elections, we are not going to have
any meaningful economic recovery until we solve this problem of bad governance.
We should all be united across the political divide because this is a national
issue and not a party political one.
How sad and tragic that after
36 years of independence and we are still bickering about what constitute free
and fair elections! We have all the information we could possible need on our
own past elections and the history of all the other nation, we have the compass
but we cannot agree it is pointing question North!
Moses, I know you do not believe Mai Mujuru's lies regarding her past, you refused accept all that nonsense that she saw nothing for 34 years, and I salute you for it. When it comes to Tsvangirai, you have not been forthcoming on what you think of him and his MDC friends' performance why?
ReplyDelete“Reading Mukori's postings, one would think that Morgan Tsvangirai was in the GNU alone exercising unfettered powers. Was Arthur Mutambara not there? Where was our learned professor, Welshman Ncube? How about Tendai Biti? I just do not know how Tsvangirai could have single-handedly implemented democratic reforms when he was not even allowed to visit prisons, Marange diamond fields or other sensitive places. We cannot be so forgetful that we do not remember the pain that Tsvangirai and MDC endured at the hands of Thabo Mbeki, SADC and Robert Mugabe during GPA negotiations,” you said.
Are you saying Tsvangirai failed to implement even one democratic reform because he did not “exercise unfettered powers”? It sounds like you too have no clue how the reforms were supposed to be implemented because is you did you would know that he had all the powers he needed.
There have been many times when Wilbert has named Ncube, Biti, Coltart, Eddie Cross and many other MDC leaders and blamed them for failing to implement the reforms. As for Mutambara, he did not apologize for his role in the GNU but at least he has had the decency to retire out of public life. It is nonsense that Wilbert must name all the other MDC leaders and not just Tsvangirai as if every article is a court charge in which all the respondents’ must be name and served with a copy of the charge.
Tsvangirai was one of the most senior MDC leaders to visit Marange in 2012 and he gave the operation there a clean bill of health contradicting some of his MDC colleagues like Eddie Cross who had saw there was corruption. We now know that Tsvangirai lied!
You must not allow your need to close the deal to form the ZUNDE - MDC-T cloud your judgement, desperate as it is, to the point you want to distort the facts and deny reality. What else is there left that you would not sell, people will ask?
Without political reforms Zanu PF will rig the vote just as they did in 2013, the only reason the opposition will still contest regardless is for those few seats Zanu PF always allow the opposition to win to keep them interested. Not many voters will have the freedom not to vote and get away with it especially those in the rural areas where they are herded like cattle and told whom to vote for.
ReplyDeleteAs long as Zanu PF offer those few opposition seats there will be opposition candidates fighting each other for them. They will never listen to your concern and millions other out there for the need for free and fair elections. They do not care even if the violence of 2008 was back!
If we the people do not demand reforms not just from Zanu PF but from opposition candidates too, if you let them know that you will never vote for any opposition candidate ever who takes part in any elections with no reform and they can see you mean, they may think twice!
Opposition parties like MDC-T would want to contest in the next elections just to fight over the few seats Zanu PF has always allowed to opposition to have to keep them interested. In 2013 MDC-T said they would not take part in any future elections without making sure reforms are implemented first. The party confirmed this position during its party congress in 2014 with "No Reform, No Election!" slogan.
ReplyDeleteA year later, 2015 Douglas Mwonzora said MDC-T would definitely take part in the 2018 elections because it is going to force Zanu PF "kicking and screaming" to implement the reforms before the elections.
It is now clear that Zanu PF has not implemented any meaningful reforms and, more significantly, it is not going to implement any. Zanu PF officials have shouted this out from Shake Shake House roof top just to rub it in.
MDC-T are desperate to find an excuse to justify why they should contest in the next elections with no reforms in place. It is almost certain that the party will cobble together some coalition of some fashion and engineer a cook up grass-root petition asking the party to contest.
ZUNDE too is desperate to contest the next elections for the scraps. A coalition with MDC-T will be great. Our friend Moses is so desperate to seal the coalition deal with Tsvangirai he is bending over backwards to deny Tsvangirai is corrupt and incompetent! It makes one wonder what else he would not do to seal this coalition deal!
Sometimes people do or say one thing but, if you listen carefully they are saying something else. It is like a wolf in sheep clothing, if its is up close it eyes, breath, muzzle, etc are a died give away. Chamboko's pathetic attempt to accuse everyone calling Tsvangirai corrupt and incompetent is comparable to a wolf trying to bleat like a sheep!
ReplyDeleteOut of his own mouth came all we needed to know about him and what he is really up too – carving a political career for himself out of selling out the misery of ordinary people, just as Tsvangirai – the man he is now defending so vigorously.
“However, it becomes a concern if someone comes across as elevating himself to the level of an angelic analyst whose intention is to carve a career out of attacking Morgan Tsvangirai or other opposition players,” he said.
Tsvangirai sold out in failing to get even one democratic reform implemented in five years of the GNU. The case has been stated over and over again, there is really no need to restate it. Mugabe bribe Tsvangirai and his MDC friends by making sure they were granted all the comforts of high office plus the $4 million Highlands mansion for Tsvangirai himself.
Zanu PF cronies boasted of how “Mazivanhu eMDC a dzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC people have learnt to enjoy gravy train comforts in silence!) They were referring to why MDC leaders were doing nothing to implement the democratic reforms.
So it is a historic fact that Tsvangirai has carved out a gravy train career for himself by selling-out the ordinary people. He is keen to be elected back into power and the gravy train hence the reason he has stubbornly refused to reign regardless of his record as a corrupt and incompetent leader. All people like Wilbert have ever done is remind the people of Zimbabwe what kind of a leader Tsvangirai will be. How that constitutes carving a political career for himself beggars belief!
On the other hand, it is another matter for Mr Chamboko, he clearly see Morgan Tsvangirai as a potential president and how such a man would certainly help launch his own political career and hence the reason he is keen for ZUNDE and MDC-T to conclude their coalition talks. He knows that Tsvangirai’s political ambitions are dead in the water if the MDC-T leader's pathetic record as a corrupt and incompetent leader is not airbrush out of history and the people’s minds.
Chamboko has been very careful never ever to criticize Tsvangirai – everyone else even those around him during the GNU have been fair game, Tsvangirai no. He has single-minded endeavoured to defend Tsvangirai at every opportunity and thus earn some brownie points. He is now stooping so low, he is attacking those saying the truth about Tsvangirai. That is just despicable and must not be tolerated for even one minute! Not even Tsvangirai’s usual side-kicks Obert Gutu, Douglas Mwonzora, Nelson Chamisa, etc. have ever dared to crossed that line!
Chamboko is not be the first Zimbabwean politician to carve a gravy train style political career by betraying the people of Zimbabwe, by being corrupt and incompetent, etc.; Tsvangirai and others have all done that.However they all waited until after the elections before they showed they really true colours. By defending the indefensible long before he has the ministerial title to hide behind, Chamboko is being impertinent and arrogant.
Tsvangirai is corrupt and incompetent and Chamboko can carve his political career tell some other lies and not insult our intelligence by denying this historic fact.