A vote for Tsvangirai
I am saddened to see Morgan Tsvangirai has died. Despite the man’s flaws, he was steadfast in his desire for peaceful, free and fair elections in the country no matter the repression Zanu-PF meted out to opposition parties and despite the blatant theft of his 2008 election victory after South African government acquiescence.
He probably should have stepped down years ago given how splintered the opposition became on his watch, but given all he went through (physical torture, demonisation in the stateowned press, losing a wife and grandchild in accidents) it is difficult for others to judge the man harshly with the benefit of hindsight and from the comfort of our homes. In the past election the Movement for Democratic Change lost by far more than can be explained by vote rigging alone. I suspect a large proportion of the populace — who were just too jaded and stayed away in the 2008 elections — turned out in 2013 as promises of indigenisation and instant “rewards” therefrom swayed them to back Zanu-PF.
Fast forward five years and the country remains in a shambles with a “coup” government, no cash, no jobs and continued food insecurity. Whatever improvement President Emmerson Mnangagwa may represent over Robert Mugabe, it is telling that he retains in his cabinet most of those responsible for wrecking the country with their shambolic mismanagement and corruption.
The saying “justice is only obtained in the next life” springs to mind when you consider that Mugabe gets to see out a cushy retirement without ever having been held to account, while the man he demonised and physically oppressed with batons and farcical trials for the past 20 years died a slow and painful death.
Patrick Chinamasa was instrumental in having MDC MP Roy Bennett jailed in the hellhole Chikurubi prison by his Zanu-PF dominated parliament sitting as a kangaroo court and is now finance minister, while Bennett and his wife, Heather, died in exile in a helicopter crash a few weeks ago. Mugabe’s deputy now sits as president of the country, while Gibson Sibanda, Tsvangirai’s original deputy at the formation of the MDC, died of cancer years ago.
There can be no moving forward for the country without national reconciliation along the lines of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in SA. The ghosts of 38 years of postindependence brutality by Zanu-PF will not disappear with one free election in 2018 – witness how the massacres in Matabeleland of the 1980s continue to haunt the national psyche.
Despite all the policy U-turns by Zanu-PF after Mugabe, there is still no acknowledgement that it was their policies that wrecked the country, nor is there any sign that they will hold their bad apples to account since there isn’t a single innocent person in any decision-making structure of the party. I sincerely hope that the MDC and all opposition parties unite to defeat Zanu-PF this year so that the ties between that party and the state are firmly broken. It is not too difficult to have a common platform for primary elections for all parliamentary seats where any card-carrying member of the various opposition parties can vote for any of the nominees.
A single opposition candidate in each district and for the presidency (Tendai Biti would make a phenomenal candidate) will stand a decent chance in a free and fair election. Seize this moment Zimbabweans, or everything Tsvangirai and his comrades went through in the struggle for peace and prosperity will come to nought.
Suhail Suleman
Claremont