ON two consecutive occasions, in a fortnight, MDC-T leader, Tsvangirai, has failed to address supporters who have been steadily dwindling since way back before the definitive July 31 2013 elections.  
The reason some papers have given for Tsvangirai’s failure to show up and address the poorly attended Glen View and Highfield rallies has been attributed to stress related illness translating to a mental or nervous breakdown. And for him, this makes 2014 a far-cry from 1999 when he was surrounded by Rhodesians and Western racists spoiling him with the blank cheques intended to cajole him into handing the beautiful land of Zimbabwe over to them.
If it is true that the purported illness is stress-related, it is very easy to see why.
For someone who was so assured to be the President of Zimbabwe that he did not exactly campaign for it considering his expectation as foregone, the thrashing by President Robert Mugabe at the July 31 2013 polls would be enough to away an ordinary man’s sanity.
And, this is given that he had actually hinted to punish traditional leadership and service chiefs for supporting the ZANU PF government.
The folly feels bad either way.
It would be bad for him if both the service chiefs and traditional leadership took him seriously.
And, it is equally bad if they choose to deride his naivety instead.  
It could easily lead to the suspected mental or nervous breakdown.
Tsvangirai would be one to interpret the massive thrashing at the polls as a massive desertion by supporters at the moment he needed them most, and such a perceived betrayal would not leave him mentally composed.
It makes sense that a massive betrayal would also lead to a commensurate mental effect.
Meanwhile, it must also not be forgotten that Tsvangirai had been warned even by his Western handlers that such a result was in the offing and he had been headstrong and done nothing about it.
No fallen man does not remember ignored warnings of tragedy.
The Shona idioms that describe the characteristic regret of the victim of an ignored warning are fatalistic in their import: “Dai ndakaziva haitungamire … Seri kweguva hakuna munamato.”
It is not unlikely that Tsvangirai would be replaying again and again all the warnings he ignored, and such replaying would not help to compose a battered mind.
Then there is the rebellion that has gutted his already falling party and the siding of his erstwhile handlers with the rebels.
Biti and company are the new puppets and therefore the most likely beneficiaries of the money that was once lavished on Tsvangirai. 
And it must take its toll on his mental state to realise that it all means the end of a life lived in reckless moral and financial extravagancy.
For a bankrupt man who obviously did not stake his hay while the good weather lasted, it is a situation that does not help a battered mental state, especially now that the courts may soon be haunting him for double-dipping while he was still in office.
It does not help the health of a man who gave his ‘everything’ to help racists reverse his own people’s liberation struggle, to know that those same enemies have discarded him like a rag and found new puppets to do the same job.  
The MDC, which Tsvangirai had the ignoble honour of giving his black face to front for Rhodesian and white interests has splintered for the umpteenth time.
Once, it was just one ramshackle omnibus that included political incorrigibles with irreconcilable political destinations.
Some had a colonial destination.
Some had a tribal destination.
Some had a slavery destination.
Some had a criminal destination.
Some were angry citizens protesting the wrongs of government.
And then, there were some, who were on board just for want of something to do. They did not exactly know where they were going.  
And, what is clear today is that since its formation in 1998, the MDC has been splitting into its irreconcilable constituents every time a group arrived at its destination.
To date, the original omnibus has splintered into MDC-Mutambara (the foreign trained destination), MDC-Ncube (the tribal destination), MDC 99/Sikhala (the greed destination) and MDC-Renewal/Biti (intellectual mercenary destination).
How does one who has been at the helm of this stupendous betrayal fail to realise that the signs had always been there and he ignored them?
It certainly cannot improve his spirits to realise that the racists specifically chose him for his cognitive deficiency; that the racists wanted a hedonist black mole without economic, political, social, cultural or moral vision, and that he was exactly what the doctor ordered.
A blind mole  who would simply eat and drink and go to the toilet and have enough money to splash on and sleep with as many women as possible, and talk about a mythical bread-basket and bread and butter which his own people would not have the security of owning.  
A mental or nervous breakdown is also a sign of introspection and haunting by past misdeeds.
If that is really so, it would mean hope that he would have at least learnt something from the whole tragic drama.
One would expect any introspection on Tsvangirai’s part not to miss ZIDERA and the associated anguish that it wrought on the population of Zimbabwe.
One would expect him not to forget how he pleaded with the South African government to cut our electricity and fuel supplies.
How he promised homosexuals a haven in Zimbabwe while at the same time acknowledging that it was culturally unacceptable to Zimbabweans.
How he promised women heaven and then mopped the floor with them.
How he mocked the beneficiaries of land reform for growing everywhere like mushroom.
How he challenged the liberation war veterans to return Zimbabweans to the place of bondage.
How he mocked the beneficiaries of black empowerment as unable to afford underwear.
The memory of all these misdeeds would not be kind to a weak mind.
Perhaps above all, the thing that could stress Tsvangirai to the hospital bed would be to know that he got his chance to serve the people he wronged and arrogantly squandered it in hedonism that benefitted no one.  
It must be awfully sad for him to know that because of that, he is now going down in history as one who almost reversed all the gains of a hard-won liberation struggle.