In a word, Ncube and his MDC should prove to us that it is more than a case of "handing power to the next generation", or fighting "pseudo-democrats and hypocrites" with "herd mentality", as Ncube said in his acceptance speech after the congress.
The Herald |
| Power Play...Arthur Mutambara (R) and Welshman Ncube |
By Tichaona Zindoga
MANY observers might have been left surprised that Professor Welshman Ncube, the new frontman of the "smaller" faction of the MDC, wants so much to be one of Zimbabwe’s two deputy prime ministers even if means it is "just for a day".
He revealed this recently after the party’s National Standing Committee, whose feeling, he modestly told the world, strongly effected to him replacing Professor Arthur Mutambara in Government.
Understandably, he is opposed to the idea of having elections this year, as largely expected. By the way, Mutambara, the same man Ncube invited out of his robotics career abroad, has fallen foul of the politics of his party and already knew his fate was sealed even before the congress on January 8-9.
This was after the majority of the provinces had made known their intentions to back Ncube for the presidency.
The politics of the party to which Mutambara fell foul might be the politics of tribalism, which is quite conspicuous given the regional vibes it is, or has been portrayed as, carrying; or that Mutambara was not quite the radical anti-nationalist he was supposed or hoped to be.
In the former case, his very leadership slighted those that had sent their children abroad to be leaders of and from the region rather than play second fiddle of other ethnicity.
In which case, after January 8 and 9, even the dead might be having some modicum of appeasement that their learned children and grandchildren are well on course for the so-called and much hoped for "Ndebele presidency".
On the other hand, as the saying about pointing fingers goes, those elements in the party alleging tribalism have only shown to be the other side of the coin.
And if truth be told, there is precious little to suggest that they are tribally-accommodating, witness their very own composition.
In the latter case, Mutambara proved to be his own man, much of an eccentric and enigma by, for example, suggesting at one point that he would want to visit Cuba to see how the people there have heroically endured half a century of United States embargo.
In another breath he would exhort President Robert Mugabe’s "generational results" in the land reform and education in the country.
Now that is all sacrilege for someone tasked to trash the revolutionary history of the country.
Even the United States saw this "danger" in Mutambara with former diplomat here Christopher Dell fearing that Mutambara was "attracted to anti-Western rhetoric".
Dell even dismissed Mutambara as a political "lightweight".
Contrast that with leader of the other faction, Morgan Tsvangirai, whose heavyweight status he earned in the eyes of the West by calling for the ruinous illegal embargo and seeing to it that they are maintained, albeit occasionally calling for their removal with a forked tongue.
Tsvangirai, it will be noted, cannot even bring himself to call the word "sanctions" and instead uses euphemisms and denials like "‘targeted" or "restrictive measures".
Whatever it is that claimed the scalp of Mutambara, if one can say that of the hired gun he arguably was, what has followed his ouster is something not inspiring.
Far from pronouncing matters of policy that the people would want to hear, which would make Ncube and company better leaders and politicians, and less of tribal agitators as has been claimed in some circles, the party has become a battleground for power games.
And Ncube has increasingly been shown to be of a Machiavellian character, one aspect of him that that leaked Charles Dell cable seemed to highlight.
First, it was the former party chair Joubert Mudzumwe who vainly sought to block the congress, citing alleged irregularities, including misuse of party finances, improper selection of delegates to the congress, selective application of discipline and shambolic structures in Bulawayo and Chitungwiza.
Mudzumwe, deputy national organising secretary Morgan Changamire, education secretary Tsitsi Dangarembga and youth chair Costa Chipadza boycotted the congress, accusing Ncube of violating the party’s constitution.
They said they would continue to regard Mutambara as president.
The matter has since spilled into the courts as Mudzumwe along 12 other members seeking to nullify the party’s congress.
Mudzumwe and company, it has emerged, have also written to the other principals, namely President Mugabe and PM Tsvangirai not to accord thhe same respect to the newly-elected Ncube.
On the other hand, four Copac members affiliated to Mudzumwe are fighting to retain their positions as rappoteurs after Ncube cracked the whip and sidelined them from the ongoing process, introducing his own loyalists instead.
The matter is also before the courts.
Whatever comes out of the courts, one cannot help the feeling that not much is bound to come from the decidedly cynical "even-for-one-day" man or his adversaries.
For all that is known, they are mainly a group of unelected somebodies who are trying to ensconce themselves in party structures for their own selfish ends.
As for Ncube, it might be worthwhile for him to dispel this notion by pointing exactly what he has done as industry and commerce minister, which post he has set up for his comrade Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
Surely, he has to add some value as a principal?
And the said comrade, Misihairabwi-Mushonga, an unelected somebody as well, should also surely have something to offer for her designated post.
It is to be wondered what value she brings from the regional integration brief she has been holding.
In a word, Ncube and his MDC should prove to us that it is more than a case of "handing power to the next generation", or fighting "pseudo-democrats and hypocrites" with "herd mentality", as Ncube said in his acceptance speech after the congress.
The trick lies in deliverables to the people which, for example, Zanu-PF has promised in indigenisation and economic empowerment among its other revolutionary thrusts, while even the MDC-T, curiously calling the leader "the Head of Government" has promised accountability.
With hindsight, it has been shown that talk is rather cheap.
When Mutambara was "elected" in February 2006, he said: "I, Arthur Oliver Guseni Mutambara, and other democratic forces in Zimbabwe, riding on the shoulders of Sekuru Kaguvi and Mbuya Nehanda today tell (President) Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai that they should shape up or ship out.
"The time has come now for us to take Zimbabweans to the Promised Land. We will not allow Mugabe to ruin this country anymore. It is time that Zimbabwe regained its status among other countries as the breadbasket of the region and not a basket case as it has become through Mugabe's policies."
Ironically, Mutambara was never able to take anyone to the Promised Land (which we take to be some good place and order), in his capacity as MDC-M chief and even when he got into Government "through the back door" as some of his opponents would say.
He could not shape up as he would have wanted his opponents to, and instead, he shipped out of the presidential race in 2008 and ultimately out of his party’s largely unsuccessful if not controversial leadership tenure.
And whatever happened to his favoured "rebranding of Zimbabwe"?
MANY observers might have been left surprised that Professor Welshman Ncube, the new frontman of the "smaller" faction of the MDC, wants so much to be one of Zimbabwe’s two deputy prime ministers even if means it is "just for a day".
He revealed this recently after the party’s National Standing Committee, whose feeling, he modestly told the world, strongly effected to him replacing Professor Arthur Mutambara in Government.
Understandably, he is opposed to the idea of having elections this year, as largely expected. By the way, Mutambara, the same man Ncube invited out of his robotics career abroad, has fallen foul of the politics of his party and already knew his fate was sealed even before the congress on January 8-9.
This was after the majority of the provinces had made known their intentions to back Ncube for the presidency.
The politics of the party to which Mutambara fell foul might be the politics of tribalism, which is quite conspicuous given the regional vibes it is, or has been portrayed as, carrying; or that Mutambara was not quite the radical anti-nationalist he was supposed or hoped to be.
In the former case, his very leadership slighted those that had sent their children abroad to be leaders of and from the region rather than play second fiddle of other ethnicity.
In which case, after January 8 and 9, even the dead might be having some modicum of appeasement that their learned children and grandchildren are well on course for the so-called and much hoped for "Ndebele presidency".
On the other hand, as the saying about pointing fingers goes, those elements in the party alleging tribalism have only shown to be the other side of the coin.
And if truth be told, there is precious little to suggest that they are tribally-accommodating, witness their very own composition.
In the latter case, Mutambara proved to be his own man, much of an eccentric and enigma by, for example, suggesting at one point that he would want to visit Cuba to see how the people there have heroically endured half a century of United States embargo.
In another breath he would exhort President Robert Mugabe’s "generational results" in the land reform and education in the country.
Now that is all sacrilege for someone tasked to trash the revolutionary history of the country.
Even the United States saw this "danger" in Mutambara with former diplomat here Christopher Dell fearing that Mutambara was "attracted to anti-Western rhetoric".
Dell even dismissed Mutambara as a political "lightweight".
Contrast that with leader of the other faction, Morgan Tsvangirai, whose heavyweight status he earned in the eyes of the West by calling for the ruinous illegal embargo and seeing to it that they are maintained, albeit occasionally calling for their removal with a forked tongue.
Tsvangirai, it will be noted, cannot even bring himself to call the word "sanctions" and instead uses euphemisms and denials like "‘targeted" or "restrictive measures".
Whatever it is that claimed the scalp of Mutambara, if one can say that of the hired gun he arguably was, what has followed his ouster is something not inspiring.
Far from pronouncing matters of policy that the people would want to hear, which would make Ncube and company better leaders and politicians, and less of tribal agitators as has been claimed in some circles, the party has become a battleground for power games.
And Ncube has increasingly been shown to be of a Machiavellian character, one aspect of him that that leaked Charles Dell cable seemed to highlight.
First, it was the former party chair Joubert Mudzumwe who vainly sought to block the congress, citing alleged irregularities, including misuse of party finances, improper selection of delegates to the congress, selective application of discipline and shambolic structures in Bulawayo and Chitungwiza.
Mudzumwe, deputy national organising secretary Morgan Changamire, education secretary Tsitsi Dangarembga and youth chair Costa Chipadza boycotted the congress, accusing Ncube of violating the party’s constitution.
They said they would continue to regard Mutambara as president.
The matter has since spilled into the courts as Mudzumwe along 12 other members seeking to nullify the party’s congress.
Mudzumwe and company, it has emerged, have also written to the other principals, namely President Mugabe and PM Tsvangirai not to accord thhe same respect to the newly-elected Ncube.
On the other hand, four Copac members affiliated to Mudzumwe are fighting to retain their positions as rappoteurs after Ncube cracked the whip and sidelined them from the ongoing process, introducing his own loyalists instead.
The matter is also before the courts.
Whatever comes out of the courts, one cannot help the feeling that not much is bound to come from the decidedly cynical "even-for-one-day" man or his adversaries.
For all that is known, they are mainly a group of unelected somebodies who are trying to ensconce themselves in party structures for their own selfish ends.
As for Ncube, it might be worthwhile for him to dispel this notion by pointing exactly what he has done as industry and commerce minister, which post he has set up for his comrade Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
Surely, he has to add some value as a principal?
And the said comrade, Misihairabwi-Mushonga, an unelected somebody as well, should also surely have something to offer for her designated post.
It is to be wondered what value she brings from the regional integration brief she has been holding.
In a word, Ncube and his MDC should prove to us that it is more than a case of "handing power to the next generation", or fighting "pseudo-democrats and hypocrites" with "herd mentality", as Ncube said in his acceptance speech after the congress.
The trick lies in deliverables to the people which, for example, Zanu-PF has promised in indigenisation and economic empowerment among its other revolutionary thrusts, while even the MDC-T, curiously calling the leader "the Head of Government" has promised accountability.
With hindsight, it has been shown that talk is rather cheap.
When Mutambara was "elected" in February 2006, he said: "I, Arthur Oliver Guseni Mutambara, and other democratic forces in Zimbabwe, riding on the shoulders of Sekuru Kaguvi and Mbuya Nehanda today tell (President) Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai that they should shape up or ship out.
"The time has come now for us to take Zimbabweans to the Promised Land. We will not allow Mugabe to ruin this country anymore. It is time that Zimbabwe regained its status among other countries as the breadbasket of the region and not a basket case as it has become through Mugabe's policies."
Ironically, Mutambara was never able to take anyone to the Promised Land (which we take to be some good place and order), in his capacity as MDC-M chief and even when he got into Government "through the back door" as some of his opponents would say.
He could not shape up as he would have wanted his opponents to, and instead, he shipped out of the presidential race in 2008 and ultimately out of his party’s largely unsuccessful if not controversial leadership tenure.
And whatever happened to his favoured "rebranding of Zimbabwe"?
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