BY the time Joice Mujuru’s National People’s Party (NPP) finished their relentless and unrestrained onslaught against fellow struggler within the opposition ranks, Morgan Tsvangirai, the much touted ‘grand’ coalition had been long dead as correctly predicted by The Patriot.
There was nothing new or extraordinary about what the nomadic NPP vice-president Samuel Sipepa-Nkomo and the maverick Dzikamai Mavhaire said about the belligerent Tsvangirai in Gutu, the venue of the MDC-T leader’s brutal attacks by his fellow opposition minions.
The Tsvangirai attack by the NPP duo was nothing more than a mere regurgitation of what we have consistently said about the purported coalition.
This is one useless congregation of spent forces masquerading as political giants seeking to rewrite the unflinching history of this our great nation.
This is the history that was authored by the two great heroes of our liberation struggle on December 22 1987 through the historic Unity Accord.
What Tsvangirai and Mujuru are trying to do is to rewrite that history through their vain search for a history that is beyond their grasp.
The only formidable and acceptable coalition is the Unity Accord.
This is where people’s aspirations collaborate, reside and resonate.
The Unity Accord is a definition of the people of Zimbabwe’s collective ability, ambition and action towards total political and economic emancipation.
In contrast, Tsvangirai and Mujuru are being cajoled into going to bed together by an angry West seeking to negate the people’s unity.
While the historic Unity Accord has the tonic of the coming together of the people of Zimbabwe and working towards developing their country, the so-called grand coalition has the remnants of divide and rule colonial mentality.
A gathering woven to do the bidding of the country’s erstwhile colonisers will not work in Zimbabwe and certainly elsewhere in the world.
This is why, to a certain extent, we agree with the duo of Sipepa-Nkomo and Mavhaire when it comes to Tsvangirai but alas, that’s where our agreement with them ends since they need serious cleansing themselves.
While addressing their supporters in Gutu on Thursday last week, NPP leaders, including its president, Mujuru, vice-president Sipepa Nkomo and chairman Mavhaire described Tsvangirai as a failure.
They disputed claims by Tsvangirai’s supporters that he alone should lead the coalition.
“We cannot afford to go backwards with a person who has failed,” said Sipepa-Nkomo.
“I want to speak on the issue of the coalition before I sit down because I know my president (Mujuru) will tone it down in a bid to be diplomatic.
“We, as NPP, are saying that a coalition does not mean Tsvangirai will become our presidential candidate.
He has been in opposition politics since 17 years ago and if a person has failed he has failed.
If a person fails you try next door and in this case Tsvangirai failed, and if he does not want a coalition he should let go because we are going to have Dr Mujuru as our presidential candidate.
If they (MDC-T) do not accept it, its their problem because we cannot afford to go backwards with a person who has failed.”
Coalitions by their nature are entities which do not have enough numbers to outdo a party with the majority.
ZANU PF has already shown its mettle through its sound economic policies which respond to the people’s aspirations.
The response by the MDC-T to the attack on their leader by NPP officials lays bare the nagging fear of yet another impending defeat that is confronting Tsvangirai.
Asked by a local daily to comment on the Mujuru and crew diatribe against Tsvangirai, the under fire opposition leader’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said they remain committed to the MoU signed last month.
“We remain amenable to working with other parties. The national council adopted principles and fundamentals of embracing the idea of working with others,” he said.
“We don’t want to be drawn into discussing what is happening in other parties. We have a MoU and to the best of our knowledge it stands.”
And herein lies Tsvangirai’s fears.
A survey commissioned by a pan-African research group, Afrobarometer and conducted by the Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) in November last year found out 64 percent of adult Zimbabweans trust President Robert Mugabe while 34 percent distrust the opposition.
Afrobarometer almost accurately predicted the July 31 2013 elections.
Part of the report reads:
There is more trust in the President in rural areas (69 percent) than urban centres (55 percent) claiming that they ‘somewhat’ or ‘a lot’ (trust the President). It is also important to note that the public trust the President (64 percent) more than they do the ruling party, ZANU PF (56 percent).
50 percent of adult Zimbabweans said they trust the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). Masvingo Province has the highest proportion of adult Zimbabweans (67 percent) who claim that they trust it ‘somewhat’ or quite ‘a lot’ with Bulawayo Province having the least trust (28 percent). Three quarters of adult Zimbabweans trust religious leaders and non-governmental organisations.
As opposition parties continue to desperately scramble around, the onus is on ZANU PF to continue implementing its people-oriented policies.
Let those with ears listen.