Tuesday, July 6, 2010

MDC-T: the supremacy of intrigue

As for PM Tsvangirai, he could count himself lucky that nobody is bringing up his poor performance on the issue of Western sanctions against Zimbabwe, which his party called for.
The Global Political Agreement was explicit on his mandate on the issue, and it is there for him to be assessed.


Whether it is leadership carte blanche or dictatorship or even evidence of a house on shaky ground, recent developments in MDC-T leave a confounding sense of intrigue.
Three events - the recent Cabinet "reshuffle" in which Elias Mudzuri, Fidelis Mhashu and Giles Mutsekwa were the biggest victims, the dismissal of Chitungwiza councillors two months ago have particularly pointed to this undercurrent.
In April, MDC-T arbitrarily fired 24 councillors in the Chitungwiza Municipality ostensibly for failing to deliver, alleged corruption and defying party directives.
"They are no longer MDC councillors. They have been fired for lack of good governance, accountability, failure to deliver and to live up to the mandate given them by the people," charged party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa.
"A whole litany" of complaints from residents and the party had necessitated the dismissal, we were told.
In this statement that was quoted by the media, Chamisa added, perhaps denoting it as a lesser evil, that they had been dismissed for "defying the party".
The mass dismissal, is a major issue considering that the populous Chitungwiza is a key party constituency and that the councillors were elected by the people, later unravelled a number of key issues.
First, was that the party leadership acted on impulse and dismissed the councillors en masse on blanket charges of corruption, lack of good governance, and failure to live up to some mandate of the people without meticulous attention to individual details and issues.
As it turned out, the charges were all but hot air, as all but one of the councillors were this month cleared of corruption charges and any wrongdoing.
One could also doubt the measurability or authenticity of the so-called "whole litany" of complaints or the "mandate" as it obviously was not shown just how each offending individual had fared in this.
What then stood out, though, was the victimisation of the councillors for not having partaken of the imposition of top party functionary Dr Vincent Gwaradzimba as mayor.
The councillors instead chose Alderman Philemon Chipiyo, along with whom the councillors were dismissed.
For that reason, the party rode roughshod over its own constitutional provisions making it clear that offenders be advised of their offences in writing, summoned for hearings in the same manner and if found guilty, advised accordingly and accorded automatic right of appeal.
The reaction of former Energy Minister Elias Mudzuri and former National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Fidelis Mhashu upon their dismissal from Government trains an observing eye to the fact that the actions of the MDC leadership personalised by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is more than providential or prudential carte blanche.
Engineer Mudzuri queried the criteria his boss used to measure the performance of the ministers.
He was convinced he had worked well within a constraining environment in a ministry saddled with colossal challenges such as Zesa, Hwange and Noczim.
No doubt a technocrat, Eng Mudzuri also failed to understand the logic of replacing him with Elton Mangoma, ex-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, whose accounting background, can not be put to much use in his new brief.
The man who once said that his electoral popularity was only bettered by President Mugabe said he was not bitter and intimated the public was the final adjudicator of all in political office.
That of course, had a whiff of his 2000 "second most popularly elected" statement, in challenging his leader which he might still hold as he concentrates on his party duties as organising secretary.
But Mhashu wasn't circumspect.
Relegated back to Chitungwiza - Chitungwiza again - to "rejuvenate party structures", Mhashu said he had been cut out just as he was about to showcase his achievements to the world.
Said he: "I was not fired because of incompetence. Being moved from a fully fledged minister to a junior position in the party is a demotion."
Thus the two were obviously not smitten by talk of the so-called "real change" or "excellence" supposed to characterise the party and on whose basis they were reassigned - or demoted as the case might be.
What stood out then was, with a striking similarity to the case of Chitungwiza, that the duo became victims of some Nicodemous if not mercurial performance test of which they were not aware.
As in the Chitungwiza case, the extraneous conditions to deliver, assuming delivery was an issue at all and one to be measured transparently and convincingly, did not allow for success.
In an economy reeling from a hyperinflationary environment that was only stemmed by the introduction of the multi-currency regime last year, Mudzuri scored his modest successes with a struggling State apparatus, and as he said, was never told that he under-performed.
Even Mhashu told us that on July 8, he was supposed to showcase a big something, whatever it was.
But, he bitterly complained that he had been denied the opportunity implying his boss had not bothered to look at what his charges were doing.
Yet he was supposed to deliver some "real change", which nobody could be so sure of, for this "party of excellence" called MDC-Tsvangirai.
Rope in one Theresa Makone, who has had more distinction in controversy and power struggles than anything and intrigue very much becomes the coefficient of MDC-T, in particular the developments in question.
The wife of Ian, a senior staffer and some say kingmaker in PM Tsvangirai's office, she is remembered for elbowing out the party-popular Lucia Matibenga to get to the helm of the women's wing of the party.
"She is one person who can get whatever she wants because of her husband," wrote one analyst to the effect.
Interestingly, the self-same husband was as in 2005 reportedly in a complot involving Elias Mudzuri in a race for positions in the executive.
Arguably, the biggest gainer in the recent shake-up - Mrs Makone - could have been seen to waste precious talents in the Public Works Ministry where she did so precious little.
Except if Tsvangirai's strange performance rating says otherwise.
She now becomes Home Affairs co-Minister, making some history, whether deserved or not, as the first woman in such a position.
Although he might not have been vocal about it, Mutsekwa could be as at sea to be reassigned to National Housing and Social Amenities - on Mhashu's way out - just as he was when some elements wanted him on Western sanctions list a while ago.
Coincidentally, Mudzuri was also on the hit list, on accusations of corruption, which nobody could tell where they went to.
But one could not help but notice this aspect of Mrs Makone's appointment: one of her two main duties concerned the "citizenship database".
Mutsekwa was not doing enough or did not have capacity enough for this, apparently.
And she the wife of spin doctor and director of elections, the man who may have or have not been fingered in some electoral mischief in recent years, is the right woman for the job.
Such is the intrigue, draped nicely in glittering - if not empty - generalities of "excellence" and "real change".
As for PM Tsvangirai, he could count himself lucky that nobody is bringing up his poor performance on the issue of Western sanctions against Zimbabwe, which his party called for.
The Global Political Agreement was explicit on his mandate on the issue, and it is there for him to be assessed.

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