Zimbabwe’s perennial presidential aspirant Morgan Tsvangirai is logged on a default “entitlement” mode that he can in 2013, ceteris paribus, garner the elusive Parliamentary majority.
Psychologists have evidence that humans — in the face of adversity — tend to exaggerate their self worth. Tsvangirai’s machismo bravado may have historical justification, but some contend that in choosing to ignore the unpredictable, he is burying his head in the sand of preferred subjective outcomes.
My hunch is that the 2013 plebiscite will be contested on basic “sadza and tea” electoral issues rather than psychotic brand loyalty, even if fellow analysts present a formidable array of arguments how Zimbabweans are not ripe for issue-based politics.
They argue that the mere fact that villagers have unquestioning loyalty to President Robert Mugabe despite his ill-fated impoverishing policies, psychotic affinity is bound to carry the day.
I insist that barring drastic ideological transformation, the ageing nationalist will garner only around 10% of the total votes, the rest shared between Tsvangirai and Professor Welshman Ncube.
Those of us who claim liberal democratic enlightenment wryly celebrate the prospect of Zanu PF’s unfamiliar role as a fringe opposition party.
If Tsvangirai’s calculations of Parliamentary domination are based on possible Zanu PF extinction, he is sliding on a rail of false levitation.
I use the word “false” lavishly, knowing that his strategists are consumed with a sense of domineering political monopoly, defeating the very cause of democratic parliamentary multiplicity.
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Caveat: Electoral success is not measured on the basis of 20 000 ululations at Zimbabwe Grounds but for me, the mere prospect of “one-party MDC-T dictatorship” is itself too ghastly to contemplate.
Both MDCs have a glaring opportunity in the Government of National Unity to prove their proficiency.
However, a sneak preview of Tsvangirai’s performance in both central and local government makes me concur with M&G blogger Amukelani Mayimele’s prophetic pronouncement that “when you vote you change nothing”.
Benjamin Chitate insists: “It would be unfair to say Tsvangirai has been a failure when he managed to lead a party that defeated Mugabe with all his university degrees in the 2008 elections.”
The sort of blind loyalty that breeds damaging cult mentality! Towns under the “spell” of MDC-T governance have probably less water today than 10 years ago. Since the “unceremonious” displacement of Ncube’s MDC from Bulawayo, the city has slid into exponential infrastructure and social service dilapidation.
MDC-T minister Sipepa Nkomo’s “dream pipe” from Zambezi River still remains . . . a pipe dream! Much Masunda’s Harare teems with idle citizens while those that are employed — including civil servants — wallow in poverty. MDC-T councils are burdened with a repertoire of scandals — the kind of political fuel ideal to jettison voters towards “issue-based” preferences.
Welshman Ncube and his lieutenants, though credited with “fewer crowds”, have tenure in government that presents better value proposition for “issue- based” voting in 2013.
His model of “industrialisation” as applied in Redcliff and David Coltart’s resuscitative participatory education system are examples of how countries must be run.
MDC-T’s Elton Mangoma presides over notorious electricity power outages while Tapiwa Mashakada’s STERP smacks of leftist Hugo Chavezian paranoia. Tendai Biti struggles with fiscal infirmity and Sesel Zvidzai is conspicuous by his deafening silence.
Restive Theresa Makone blows harmless political volcanic ash as Jacqueline Zwambila gloats in her new lead role as Australia’s rendition of Desperate Housewives. Contrast this with Ncube, Coltart, Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, Trudy Stevenson and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga who portray a likeable image of sober maturity and sophistication!
I may be wrong, but were 2013 elections to be GNU performance based, Ncube’s “sadza and tea”offerings would confine Tsvangirai to second place, with Mugabe a miserable but necessary-for-a-healthy-democracy distant third!
