It would appear that the conglomeration of individuals calling themselves MDC-M is in a crisis. The Professor of Law and his sidekick the Professor of Robotics are bent on destroying their robot. Reports indicate that there is disaffection among the rank and file MPs with the Executive and accusations of disloyalty have been made against five MPs and others. The five MPs and others now face disciplinary hearings and possible expulsion. For a party started by those who claimed to have left Morgan Tsvangirai’s formation because he had a kitchen cabinet it would appear that Mutambara and Ncube have now decided to run the ‘party’ like their personal business.
I wonder what is going on in David Coltart’s mind as the circus plays out in the media. I remember Coltart’s eloquent explanation as to why he chose to go with the Mutambara crowd instead of the larger formation. He accused Tsvangirai of being a dictator and negating the democratic principles that the MDC was fighting for. What sayeth the Honourable Coltart now? I know he acted out of his convictions and probably from the advice Welshman Ncube and others but I think he spoke too soon. He was naïve to trust people who were driven by a desire to grab power more than their belief in democracy. This should have been evident to Coltart if he had chosen to look carefully at the facts around him. Although there were many people at the meeting at which Tsvangirai and others decided to overturn the decision to participate in the senate elections Welshman Ncube and Gibson Sibanda targeted Tsvangirai and singled him out for expulsion from the party. This should have made all independent minds question the motive behind this action but Honourable Coltart in his wisdom chose to ignore these early signs of vindictiveness. It is the same vindictiveness that seems to have come back to haunt MDC-M. The leaders who sought to eliminate those who disagreed with them then seem to be at the centre of this effort to remove all dissenting voices from MDC-M.
The irony of this whole charade is that Welshman Ncube would have us believe that he stands for democracy and that he is better than those who stayed with Tsvangirai. In democracy people are allowed to hold views that are different to their leaders and to question the direction in which their organisation is going. I am not suggesting that these people are right but that they should have the right to question and to disagree with their leaders. For an organisation founded on opposition to the dictatorial tendencies of Tsvangirai one would have thought that they would be tolerant to dissent. One of the fiercest critics of Tsvangirai and a founder member of the formation, Job Sikhala, has since resigned from the ‘party’ citing the same allegations made against Tsvangirai in 2005.
MDC-M is in self destruct mode and unless the Robotics Professor can work his magic to stop the robot from self destructing then there may not be MDC-M to talk about in a few weeks. The analogy between this party and a robot is true on many levels. As a self contained organisation without roots in the masses it is like a machine which reacts only according to the instructions programmed in it. It would appear that the instructions programmed in the ‘mind’ of this robot are to get rid of those parts which do not agree with it. A robot acts without emotion or conscience. It would appear that the MDC-M executive is acting without regard to the implications of their actions. Here we have an organisation that has never had popular support with a leader who was elected at a kitchen cabinet dubbed a congress now threatening the people’s project because those in power in the organisation fear that they may be removed. The ten MPs that MDC-M has are part of the process driving change in Zimbabwe and the leadership is prepared to sacrifice the Zimbabwe project to save Mutambara, Ncube and Misihairibwi-Mushonga’s skins. Many people couldn’t care less whatever happens to this ‘party’ were it not for the ramifications for the New Zimbabwe project. The events of the past few days do not augur well for the people of Zimbabwe in general and for the people of Matebeleland in particular and there is need for the rational beings in MDC-M to reign in Mutambara and Ncube. Those in Matebeleland who voted for this party did so because they believed that it represented a major shift from what they perceived to be the weaknesses in Tsvangirai’s formation. They will feel ill used if the party destroyed itself in the process of getting rid of the ‘bad’ apples. Robert Mugabe must be thanking his demons for this sideshow as it will certainly distract MDC-M ministers and MPs from doing their jobs effectively. Like a hawk Mugabe is waiting in the air ready to swoop when the opportunity avails itself and it looks like the opportunity may not be far away if MDC-M does not hold their act together. I hope that the affable David Coltart and others will once again find their voices to criticise these ill advised actions of the top leaders of this party otherwise this robot will indeed self destruct…
No comments:
Post a Comment