Given Tsvangirai’s history of unilateralism, a crime he ironically accuses President Mugabe of, it does not look like Tsvangirai will value whatever the supporters tell him, after all they have thick lips, broad noses and kinky hair when those he listens to have blonde hair, thin lips, hawkish noses, high foreheads and eyes of any colour other than brown.
The other irony of Tsvangirai’s latest charade is not only his attempt to pass himself off as someone who values the opinion of his party’s rank and file but the fact that he openly contradicts himself without even realising it. In one breath he says he does not want early elections, in another he says he wants to pull out of Government and the GPA, a development that will only abet the cause for early elections.
The Herald/ Terra Firma (blog)
By Caesar Zvayi
PLAYWRIGHTS would tell you that their writings are mostly art imitating life. The absurdity of the human condition that at times manifests in man’s failure to understand his environment or his kith and kin, or simply the failure of some people to understand gave rise to a new form of theatre that broke dramatic conventions while highlighting the characters’ inability to understand each other. This type of theatre came to be known as, the Theatre of the Absurd.
Zimbabweans do not have to look far to find this type of theatre unfolding in real life because election season is nearly upon us and it tends to bring out the worst among those at Harvest House.
Elections by their nature bid aspirants to sell themselves and their programmes to the people. And in the absence of any programmes, some aspirants naturally become perspirants who try to divert attention from their shortcomings with side-shows in the hope of evading public scrutiny.
MDC-T leaders are masters at this game and the comedy of the absurd has truly opened at Harvest House.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s ill-advised letters to South Africa, the United States and Europe calling for the ousting of ambassadors posted there was Act 1, Scene 1 of the theatre of the absurd.
Scene 2 was MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett’s announcement that he was now in ‘‘exile’’ in South Africa, fleeing what he called a ‘‘military junta’’. Bennett said he would not return to Zimbabwe until the political situation stabilises and rule of law is restored.
This was quite ironic given that in fleeing to SA, Bennett who faces a US$1 million defamation lawsuit and is wanted by the police, broke the law and became a fugitive from justice.
High Court judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu is suing Bennett for allegedly defaming him in an interview he had with the British paper, the Guardian, on May 24 this year in which he was quoted as saying the judiciary was selective and that "the very judge that is trying me is the owner of a farm that he’s been given through political patronage". Suffice to say the same judge Bennett accused of ‘‘selective application of the law’’ acquitted him of the banditry charges he was facing.
In his tirade from South Africa, Bennett proclaimed his innocence saying he did not utter the defamatory remarks yet the comments are still there to this day on the archives of the Guardian newspaper. All he has to do is prove that he did not defame Justice Bhunu in a court of law, and he would be free to do whatever he wants in Zimbabwe without let or hindrance.
What Bennett does not realise is that in giving the courts a non-existent address before skipping the border he did not behave like the innocent man he passes himself for, but a guilty individual who deserves to be hauled to the courts by the scruff of the neck.
Isn’t he aware that he can still be arrested in SA and extradited to Zimbabwe to stand trial, and that can cause him considerable embarrassment than turning himself into the police and facing the music strummed by his own brutish hands.
I challenge the police to call Bennett’s bluff on rule of law, and show him that it really exists. They must contact their counterparts in the South African Police Services to nab Bennett and ship him back home. The courts need him.
Then, of course, Scene 3 was Tsvangirai’s announcement last week that he was launching ‘‘a nationwide consultative exercise’’ to find out whether the MDC-T should stay in or pull out of Government following the renewal of the tenures of provincial governors, appointment of judges and re-assignment of ambassadors, all of which are within the powers of the President to appoint and outside the powers of the Prime Minister to stop.
The biggest irony, of course, was that Tsvangirai has done this before and always when Bennett was in trouble, coincidence?
I don’t think so. This is a typical case of the tail wagging the dog.
Tsvangirai has taken his party structures for a ride with sham consultations before trashing whatever they would have suggested because baas Bennett’s hide would be in need of saving.
A typical example would suffice here.
Last year, October 2009, soon after the formation of the inclusive Government, Tsvangirai claimed there were differences with Zanu-PF and his party would consult its membership countrywide on whether they should stay in Government or pull out. The party members, we were told, resoundingly said the party should remain in Government, and as fate would have it, Bennett’s treason case opened at the High Court on October 16, and Tsvangirai promptly announced that MDC-T was ‘‘disengaging’’ from Government. It didn’t matter to him that his party’s supporters had said MDC-T should remain in the inclusive Government.
Given Tsvangirai’s history of unilateralism, a crime he ironically accuses President Mugabe of, it does not look like Tsvangirai will value whatever the supporters tell him, after all they have thick lips, broad noses and kinky hair when those he listens to have blonde hair, thin lips, hawkish noses, high foreheads and eyes of any colour other than brown.
The other irony of Tsvangirai’s latest charade is not only his attempt to pass himself off as someone who values the opinion of his party’s rank and file but the fact that he openly contradicts himself without even realising it. In one breath he says he does not want early elections, in another he says he wants to pull out of Government and the GPA, a development that will only abet the cause for early elections.
Tsvangirai would save himself the pain of acting all these sideshows by articulating his p
arty’s policies and proving that they are better than what Zanu-PF has to offer. The coming election will be different, very different.
He will have his new constitution, access to the public media, the Sadc guidelines and principles, all of which he used to take as campaign material; this time people need to hear fro
m his own lips what the MDC-T stands for.
What is the party’s position on indigenisation and economic empowerment; resource ownership by Zimbabweans, where exactly do they stand on the land reform programme, our independence and sovereignty.
Judging by MDC-T’s record in the local authorities they control, they stand for the dispossession of the vulnerable groups of society and the enrichment of a few.
No amount of sideshows will erase the images of widows, orphans, the elderly and infirm demonstrating against the party’s councillors who tried to boot them out of their houses.
This is a picture MDC-T party has made clear can happen at national level by promising to return land to white farmers.
Tsvangirai needs to become truly Zimbabwean. He needs to tune in to the majority sentiment.
As it is he manifests the worst of the human condition, failure to understand his environment and those around him, true, theatrics of the absurd.
caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw
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