The appointment of Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri as vice-presidents in the MDC-T has brought a serious political hullabaloo from both their party and Zanu PF followers.
Opinion by Silas Memory Madondo
The enemies of our struggle (of chasing Zanu PF from power) are now also castigating Morgan Tsvangirai as a serious dictator worse than their dearest, President Robert Mugabe.
It could be true that Tsvangirai violated his party’s constitution, but we should all know that, if one wants to fight a dictator, he/she should “temporarily” become a dictator and I am not surprised with his new appointments.
I can see the “worshippers” of Tsvangirai are struggling to defend their leader, with some resorting to reading the MDC-T constitution day and night. Stop it and accept that he violated the constitution that he made. Accepting defeat is a sign of maturity and I, therefore, urge you to direct your efforts towards Zanu PF regime and their “God-given leader” rather than giving the dictator time to breathe.
If you want to fight a devil, you should also become a devil for a while in order for you to compete. If you want to successfully fight against an insane person, you should fit yourself to his/her shoes. If you want to fight against dictators like Mugabe or Yoweri Museveni, you should also become a dictator of sorts. You cannot fight against a devil from a “holy corner”; you have to kiss, hug or even to sleep with the devil in order to destroy it.
It started with Mugabe, he appointed Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko as Vice-Presidents, and Didymus Mutasa threatened to challenge Mugabe in court, but nothing materialised.
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If Tsvangirai appointed Chamisa and Mudzuri as a strategy to remove Mugabe from power, I don’t care. Even if Tsvangirai wants to appoint other members to MDC-T governance structures with a purpose of removing Mugabe and Zanu PF is inconsequential to me as an individual. What we want is for Tsvangirai to use his wisdom to make sure we are free from Mugabe and Zanu PF.
Zimbabweans, do not spend your quality time discussing Zanu PF VPs or MDC-T’s new VPs, what we need is to make sure Mugabe and Zanu PF are gone and that our Constitution will support that! The questions that we need to ask our selves as serious Zimbabweans are: Are Chamisa and Mudzuri able to take us to the “promised land”? Do they have zeal or will to remove the dictator from power?
Are they willing and able to sacrifice their blood for the sake of the struggle? Fighting a dictator is like a miner working underground, his/her life is not protected by the forces of nature.
These positions are for “blood donors” and not for cowards. I, therefore, want to appeal to Zimbabweans to stop wasting time on appointments in the opposition, but face the dictator head on. The sole aim of the struggle is to make sure Zanu PF is out of power and most of those concentrating their efforts on MDC-T internal politics are wasting crucial time to wage the struggle. Zimbabwe lacking leaders to finish struggle
It is an open secret that Zimbabweans are fed up with Mugabe and Zanu PF and what is lacking is only a brave leader. The support rendered to Cleric Evan Mawarire’s #ThisFlag movement is a clear sign that Zimbabweans are fed up. He came from nowhere and mobilised Zimbabweans through social media and got a huge following. Zimbabweans are ready to follow anyone who is brave and willing to sacrifice for their freedom.
Opposition in Zimbabwe is letting us down and they think they can remove the dictator while fighting from their houses. They should learn from Mawarire, he tried to remove fear from the majority of Zimbabweans though there is no leader to guide them at this hour.
Zimbabweans are ready to fight Mugabe and Zanu PF but are lacking a serious leader, to give them direction. Opposition parties are quiet and fear of incaceration eventually engulfed Mawarire who has sought refuge in South Africa. I strongly believe, the appointments of Chamisa and Mudzuri are a strategy to revive the struggle and, therefore, let us give Tsvangirai a chance to rejuvenate his movement.
To Chamisa/Mudzuri
The ground that you are standing on is “not holy” and you should now think of reviving our struggle against the dictator. You should accept that the MDC-T of today is a bit weak and has been only fighting the struggle through “cold war” in newspapers. The dictator needs to be confronted head on and not through other means. Read the constitution of Zimbabwe and you will eventually understand what I am saying.
Chamisa, you should learn from Welshman Ncube and Lovemore Madhuku, their political parties are not as influential because they dedicate most of their time to law. If you follow in their footsteps, the struggle will suffer.
MDC-T members who are disgruntled by Chamisa and Mudzuri appointments must calm down and swallow their pride. Focus should be on removing Mugabe and Zanu PF from power.
l Silas Memory Madondo is a lecturer and a mixed methods researcher. He can be contacted on email: [email protected]
