THERE was nothing new or unusual about the violent demonstrations that rocked Harare last week with the notable symbolism being a repeat of the MDC-T’s March 11 2007 convention that resulted in Morgan Tsvangirai being bashed.
This was a programme designed to bring Zimbabwe into the global spotlight again and to make the country look ugly in the eyes of the world.
The significance of the gory scenes witnessed in Harare was not lost on anyone who has followed Zimbabwean politics since Tsvangirai entered the political fray at the turn of the millennium.
Violence in politics has been the hallmark of Tsvangirai’s politics.
On the evidence of last week’s violent encounters, it was only fitting then that new players in opposition politics, united by the goal of destroying property and playing to the tune of their Western handlers, joined Tsvangirai in the catastrophe that ensued.
From the onset, the plan by MDC-T youths who organised Wednesday’s protests and the so-called National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA), a grouping of more than 18 opposition political parties, was to provoke the police and destroy property.
The trail of destruction left by the supposedly ‘peaceful’ demonstrators was telling.
It had been the organisers’ plan to make Harare ungovernable, to make it a bastion of anarchy and uncertainty.
Ousted ZANU PF secretary for administration, NERA convenor and opposition Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) co-founder Didymus Mutasa had given the public a preamble of the violence NERA was going to unleash in Harare.
Addressing journalists in Harare last week Thursday, Mutasa urged all opposition parties to mobilise their members to participate in the so-called electoral reform march.
“The march for comprehensive electoral reforms will go ahead,” Mutasa declared.
“All parties should come in their numbers to give a loud national statement.
“We need comprehensive electoral reforms to move away from the culture of disputed elections.”
Mutasa, who was interestingly but not surprisingly flanked by Tsvangirai, his deputy Nelson Chamisa, ZimPF spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire, Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume and MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, then let the cat out of the kilter when he unravelled NERA’s plan for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to intervene and force President Robert Mugabe to implement ‘the reforms to avoid another disputed election outcome’.
SADC held an ordinary meeting in Swaziland this week.
And Zimbabwe’s civil society groups had already been dispatched to Swaziland to lobby SADC member-states to ‘debate’ what they said was Harare’s ‘worsening socio-economic and political crisis’.
For a while, it seems possible that the newly found affair congregating under the banner of NERA will continue their burgeoning relationship, a prospect that has excited Westerners who are chipping in with moral and financial support.
Don’t let it surprise anyone, however, that this sudden co-ordinated eruption of violence disguised as peaceful protests has received traction with Western embassies in Harare.
In the midst of the fiasco that was taking place in Harare, a buoyant NERA hastily convened a press conference at Bronte Hotel where they declared they would not be cowed by what they said was police brutality.
“If what the police did was to cow us from holding demonstrations, then the opposite has been the case,” said Mutasa.
“We are going next Friday to do the same – request another opportunity to demonstrate here in Harare and if thwarted, our demonstration capacity will be on stand-by.
“It is not just us, the political parties here, but the whole of Zimbabwe saying this is the Zimbabwe we want.”
Mutasa said the planned demonstration this week would repeat the same message of a peaceful transformation through early elections.
But there is need to look at the warning that had been given by police prior to Friday’s fiasco and how it interlinks with NERA’s attempt to create another Arab Spring in Zimbabwe.
Officer Commanding Harare, Chief Superintendent Newbert Saunyama’s letter dated August 15 had advised NERA to shelve its planned demo and send representatives to petition the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to implement the required reforms.
Part of the letter read: “This office is discouraging the issue of marching in the central business district considering the number of participants, 150 000, to be involved in your street demonstration.
“The crowd cannot be accommodated in the central business district (CBD), as it interrupts the smooth flow of both human and vehicular traffic.
“We, however, encourage you to send representatives to submit your petition to ZEC headquarters rather than engaging in street demonstration.”
NERA lawyer and MDC-T secretary-general, Mwonzora, then filed a court challenge against the police’s decision on the matter.
“We say no to the legal advice the police are giving us,” he said.
“As usual, we have gone to the court and we expect a hearing any time, as you know the High Court works 24 hours.”
Mwonzora added they would go ahead with preparations for the march despite the court challenge.
“The police never cited any other reason that they suspect there will be violence or that they have manpower shortage,” he said.
“This is a peaceful protest.
“In fact, 150 000 people are just very few compared to the (ZANU PF) million-man march which the police never said would disrupt traffic and was allowed by the same police.”
Whatever happens today, the blame securely lies on NERA and their anti-Zimbabwe project.
But what is clear is that these were never intended to be peaceful demonstrations, but property-destroying schemes aimed at playing to the gallery (Western sponsors).