×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Zwambila, Makuvise: A case of inept political leadership

Opinion & Analysis
A colleague wrote on his social media platform: “There is a serious problem, when clowns are assigned to leadership positions.

A colleague wrote on his social media platform: “There is a serious problem, when clowns are assigned to leadership positions. How else can one qualify the behaviour of the Zwambila-Makuvise axis? My advice to the duo is that when the dance is over, please stop dancing.”

GUEST COLUMN by Rashweat Mukundu

While it may appear that the Jacqueline Zwambila and Hebson Makuvise asylum-seeking applications in the countries that hosted them, Australia and Germany respectively fits within the dominant Zimbabwe political narrative of the past decade, that of violence, threats, abuses and instability, there is something seriously wrong with this kind of political leadership by the two, if there is any leadership to be expected from them at all.

This is so because the two are harping to a song that has since lost its tune, but rather becoming irritating as Zimbabweans want brave political leadership at the home front, a political leadership that shares with them the very things that Zwambila alleges are taking place.

Zwambila cannot aspire for political leadership to test the fruits and not the pain and pricking thorns that come with such aspirations.

She cannot expect to ride on the backs of Zimbabweans to enjoy an ambassadorial post without experiencing the suffering and the challenges that citizens face on day-by-day basis.

She cannot expect to represent the MDC-T party as a leader when she does not want to experience what the party faces at the front.

She is an armchair leader who puts her comfort ahead of the political interest.

To sum it all, she is an opportunist who sees politics for its personal benefits and not its vicissitudes.

In other words, the MDC-T is better off without such people and Zimbabwe is better off without such political leaders.

It was probably fashionable and acceptable a few years ago to claim political asylum as Zimbabwe faced and still faces serious political and economic challenges that triggered a massive exodus estimated in millions.

As many who claimed political asylum in the United Kingdom and Australia were genuine victims, but the majority were economic refugees and their desperation was and remains understandable.

I know of colleagues who never set a foot at a political rally, nor could identify the faces of the main opposition political leaders, yet claimed to be victims of Zanu PF terror in Zimbabwe.

And we cannot discount that an equally desperate Zanu PF terrorised people.

The evidence of people tortured and harassed and others killed is there.

Many of the victims of this terror that include the likes of Job Sikhala, Morgan Tsvangirai, Lovemore Madhuku, Jestina Mukoko, are still in Zimbabwe and still engaged in activities that landed them in trouble and still proud to be fighting the good fight in their various capacities.

In comes Zwambila and Makuvise who we hear are seeking political asylum because they fear for their lives in Zimbabwe.

We hear from officials who worked with Zwambila at the Embassy in Australia that she has been to Zimbabwe many times in the course of her four-year tour of duty, meaning she did not feel threatened then.

I don’t know about Makuvise and only heard of him when he was appointed ambassador.

Zwambila is entitled to challenge Zanu PF electoral victory and attack Zanu PF in any manner as she pleases since she belongs to an opposition party.

It is the business of the opposition to discredit the ruling party and hopefully, win the next election.

However, for the long suffering Zimbabweans, her current theatrics are an unnecessary distraction from the business of serving Zimbabwe and the daily struggles that people are undergoing to survive in harsh economic environment.

While I hold serious reservations about electoral management in Zimbabwe, I still argue as I have done before that it is the business of those who desire power to displace those in power and it is not the business of Zanu PF to conduct elections that it loses, it will never do so.

The onus is, therefore, on the opposition political leadership to raise their influence and leverage to such an extent that the ruling party loses and accedes power.

It has happened in similar tough environments in Africa and it can happen in Zimbabwe.

Zwambila’s actions are, however, an anti-thesis to what should be the opposition’s political struggles and strategies.

She represents a leadership that is timid, misrepresents issues to the point of lying for self-interest.

Her statements and defence of her decision to seek political asylum is an abandonment of her political party.

It is a slap in the face of the party leadership that selected her for this prestigious national office.

If Zwambila is a political leader, she must realise that her experience in the past four years is needed back home within her party than she would do as a refugee in Australia.

The lesson for the MDC-T is a hard one and one to ponder as the party prepares for the future.

The lesson is who really is a party cadre and what criteria does the party use to select leadership?

Is the MDC-T leadership politicised enough to appreciate its mission, the challenges ahead, and is the leadership disciplined enough to carry through its mandate?

The mayors and councillors scandal, and now Zwambila and Makuvise indicates that the party is infiltrated not by the Central Intelligence Organisation or Zanu PF, but opportunists of the highest order.

These are people who are not shameful to associate with the party when it suits them and to pursue self-interest when its suits them.

Regarding the two asylum aspirants, one has to ask what they ever brought to Zimbabwe in the course of the four years of duty in foreign countries.

If there is any pride at all in Zwambila and Makuvise’s political careers and leadership, then they should come home and see how the people are doing at Mbare, Renkini and Sakubva.

They should associate with the struggles of the people of Zimbabwe from the front and not seek to extend their comforts by any means.