Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) MDC needs to reconnect with values

MDC needs to reconnect with values
by Courage Shumba
26/10/2009 00:00:00

IT MUST be stated with clarity that the failure of the MDC to concentrate on key policy issues continues to expose the hypocrisy and underlying greed behind the party’s many political manoeuvres.

The latest decision by the MDC leadership to boycott cabinet meetings yet vowing to remain in the inclusive government calls to question the character, integrity and motivation of the MDC. It further exposes the MDC’s inability to deal with key political and economic issues outside the search for luxury and privilege whilst masquerading as a revolutionary movement.

To my knowledge, the key issues at the heart of our country’s survival are still anchored on job creation, quality health care, education, law and order and building a lasting economic situation that favours sustainable growth. None of these issues have been put forward as the major reason for the decision to review the MDC’s cooperation with Zanu PF in the inclusive government.

The MDC is obsessed with the issue of governors and other high office positions and that is the reason behind this latest move and the subsequent globetrotting.

The availability of drugs, hospital staff, doctors, equipment, waiting times and medical after-care services are still a very major issue and a critical one in our health care system.

Schools are still very poorly equipped with inadequate staff and no morale, no text books, no computers, and lack of a 21st century syllabus, teaching and learning infrastructure. There are not even enough classrooms or even enough chairs for our children to sit on. There are still thousands of children of school-going age still unable to be in school because of poverty.

Our children are still roaming the streets after secondary school without any prospect of ever landing a job in the near future. What is their future and the future of children born to this generation of our troubled country, people whose worries are compounded by two parties that risk our entire future in a battle for high office and luxury? What will the change of an attorney general or a governor of a central bank that does not even manage its own currency do for them?

It is even more worrying to realise that the MDC’s fight for a fair share of governors’ positions – an unnecessary liability on the taxpayer -- is not tied to any new purpose against other pressing demands for resources. What is the role of these governors anyway? What is their new portfolio in the scope of MDC policy?

By arguing for a share of these governors’ positions, the MDC is accepting that these posts are necessary. On the contrary, it would be in the best interests of our country to abolish these posts.

It can be observed that Mugabe’s legacy for obscene luxury in a time of crisis has been inherited by the MDC. Unless a business case can be made for the honorary office of governor, I believe the MDC should avoid considering putting a fight let alone magnifying the importance of these parasitic posts without making a case and providing evidence of how the public benefits directly from having a governor. That is what we can expect from people who promised us accountable government.

The sad thing we are learning from this experience is that there are worrying shared identities and similarities between the two main political rivals in our country. None of these parties has demonstrated that they are driven selflessly to go beyond personal ambition and luxury.

It is difficult to make sense of the inconsistencies in Tsvangirai’s message about where we are and what we should expect. In London, he called on Zimbabweans to return home yet his own high ranking officials where locked up and being persecuted. Today, the same leader who wanted people back home is walking out on the same government he said was working, a government he wanted diasporas to bank their faith with.

The inconsistencies bring into question the quality of Tsvangirai’s judgement and his suitability for the post of president. What would have been the future of all the diasporas if they had acted on the wisdom of Tsvangirai and his delegation?

What is depressing from all this confusion and lack of purpose within the MDC is that again we have to choose between a dictatorship and a hopeless lot of brainwashed reactionaries who believe that being in power is an end in itself. Why is the MDC not building on key issues where there already is consensus with Zanu PF, like calling for an end to sanctions, drafting a new constitution, reforming media legislation and establishing a professional body to run elections? From transport to prisons, there is work to be done by this government.

It is a fair conclusion that the MDC was born out of the people’s frustration and desperation with Zanu PF and also that it owes much of its support to that disillusionment. If the MDC cannot prove itself as a cure to the desperation Zanu PF created, then we have a crisis. A political party that is born out of a movement to curb excesses cannot defy the principle that lies in abolishing (not fighting for) offices that are fundamentally unnecessary, created for political expediency and there to waste resources.

The task before Tsvangirai is to work with Mugabe to resolve the majority of the issues that have made it not possible for our people to live decent lives. From law enforcement, corruption, education, health, social care and dealing with the aftermath of several years of bad management and falling standards, Tsvangirai needs a fresh team of people whose brains are free from trying to outmanoeuvre and succeed him. He needs people who are not infected by a desire to be Zanu PF look-alikes within the MDC.

Tsvangirai’s party, like Zanu PF, is plagued with dishonest people who pay only lip service to the vision for a new political, economic and social order whilst emulating the crooks and vulgar lifestyles of their opponents. Such people have the rather negative energy to do to Tsvangirai what fat cats within Zanu PF did to Robert Mugabe. The result of it all is an elderly man whose contribution in his earlier years as a revolutionary is quite tragically overshadowed by his later years as a dictator.

Tsvangirai is a brave man who has fought against dictatorship with honour. His lack of education and oratory is of no consequence if those around him were able to take advantage of his bravery and the support that has been attracted to his special appeal. He will not make the best president on his own. He needs to find people who share his vision for Zimbabwe, not just a vision for MDC in power.

Politics needs continuity, fresh ideas and fresh people which is why the refusal to acknowledge this by Mugabe has pushed him into a fighting corner against an ever increasing new generation of Zimbabweans whose heroes will no longer stand out from those who tell tales, but from astute leaders who will deal with today’s pressing issues with direction and courage. The MDC needs to open its arms to new people and ideas, and not protect itself and little positions from inevitable change.

Lastly, a point must be made that this pull-out from cooperation in the cabinet is nothing radical. It is a weak, inconsequential move that only heightens tension and achieves nothing. If Tsvangirai wants to be relevant, he should deal with the real issues and do less of this tragic-comic politics of rhetoric, threats and boycotts.

For a change, many Zimbabweans would have wanted to see both the MDC and Zanu PF working flat out to ensure that this planting season is given the heart and soul of what a government can do to promote food production and self sufficiency.

For a change, I would have wanted to hear that the government of Zimbabwe is engaging the diaspora community to investment in the energy sector, or to play a role in charitable causes such as building a school or buying equipment for a hospital to save lives.

For a change, I would have wanted to hear that the government of Zimbabwe is finalising the details for a new constitution, and working together with all key partners to make headway to have it endorsed through a referendum.

I have no doubt that Tsvangirai means well. What I don’t know is if those around him share his honesty and sincerity to our cause. I can’t help but believe that Ari Ben Menashe was not the last in what Tsvangirai is going to see by way outright betrayal.

Everyone seems to believe Tsvangirai needs to bring to us a Zimbabwe served in a tray with all the courtesies of an English butler. How does everyone else fare on this national question, except blowing the whistle when Tsvangirai fouls or misses the target?

We are all in this together -- you, me, Zanu PF and even Robert Mugabe. We need to reconnect and forgive if we are to build our country to what it is capable of being.

Courage Shumba is a human rights advocate and civic activist

Labels: CORRUPTION, MDC

posted by MrK @ 6:06 AM