Maravi

(HERALD) Insider opens MDC can of worms

Insider opens MDC can of worms
Sunday, 15 May 2011 21:45

Title: A travesty of democracy...The untold story
Author: David Muzhuzha
Publisher: Jovid Press (2010).
Review By Tichaona Zindoga

AFTER Government ill-advisedly adopted the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme at the behest of the Bretton Woods Institutions in 1990, resultant socio-economic problems provided a fertile ground for an agitated working class.

This is one group that bore the brunt of retrenchments, cuts in social service spending and felt, largely justifiably so, that the revolutionary Zanu-PF party which made the Government had abandoned them for a dalliance with former colonisers who make the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

And so, apart from the pent-up emotions that registered themselves as strikes and boycotts, there were other seemingly bona fide "Beyond ESAP" discussions that focused on reclaiming the workers lost glory and humanity.

In all this, the person of Morgan Tsvangirai, the former office orderly at a Mine in Shamva who had risen to the helm of the trade unions mother body, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, rose.

But just as the workers were expecting the improvement of their material being, using the vehicle of labour on the negotiating table with Government and the employers, Tsvangirai had other ideas.

Journalist David Muzhuzha, who was editor at the ZCTU monthly publication, The Worker at the time and saw the launch of the Movement for Democratic Change in 1999 in the belly of the worker body, illustrates how Tsvangirai pilfered the cause of the worker for his own greedy political good.

He relates how the Working People's Conventions in early 1999, tasked with discussing the "Beyond Esap" programmes, were turned by Tsvangirai and his tribal loyalists (we shall discuss this aspect in detail) and a few non-governmental organisations into a vehicle for the creation of the MDC.

A decisive moment came May 8 1999 when ZCTU convened some 100 delegates at the Women's Bureau Centre in Eastlea, Harare, two months after a similar meeting, where the leadership of ZCTU was ostensibly asked by NGOs to form a political party.
Trade unionists are said to have outnumbered all else, including the NGOs that went nowhere in terms of representation beyond their leaders and offices.

Muzhuzha notes: "As it eventually turned out, the labour movement's thinly-veiled pre-convention's desire to form a political party to rival Zanu-PF was endorsed by all participants.

"But the final position was carefully crafted to appear as if the ZCTU had been requested by civil society to facilitate the party formation - and not the other way round!"

Muzhuzha insinuates he even suggested the name "Movement for Democratic Change" which was eventually officially adopted (pp16).

The result of this fraud all but beamed in the face of Tsvangirai - and in his gait too, which Muzhuzha reports that "it was clear from his new-found stride that that the convention had tightened his grip on the promising political outcome".

Tsvangirai would not have had such a prospect at the National Constitutional Assembly where he earlier had been chairman, what with the educated arrogance that abounded there among lawyers and other lettered personalities vis-a-vis his own educational limitations.

Thus begun in earnest Tsvangirai's political journey with the formation of the MDC, its launch, growth and what Tsvangirai is today - the Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

But gone also were the pretensions at representing workers, which run to this day when the same workers, informed by his empty promises, have not seen anything tangible from his premiership.

In fact, Tsvangirai's ally, Finance Minister and party secretary general Tendai Biti, has consistently refused to award civil servants pay based on the advice of the IMF who ironically sold the bitter Esap.

The one remarkable observation one can make of this book is that it does not make any reference to Tsvangirai's past labour related activities, including his championing of the crippling strikes in 1998/9.

Is it a deliberate effort by Muzhuzha to delete Tsvangirai's pedigree?
While that could be as true, as it is debatable, the symbolic significance of it is palpable.

And we notice the politics-dabbling Tsvangirai abusing Chester House and using its resources and offices to nurture his newly hatched political party.

This saw Tsvangirai leaving Chester House six months after the formation of the MDC.
Not that he didn't have such blessings.

Apart from his cronies at Chester House who saw an opportunity in Tsvangirai's political adventure, Tsvangirai had the support of European and American trade union bodies that clandestinely funded his political run through ZCTU.

The intentions of the Western forces are nowhere clearer than in the conversation Muzhuzha reportedly had with the German Fredrick Ebert Stiftung foundation's Dr Traub Merz.

Muzhuzha asked Traub-Merz "to explain why the international donor community appeared oblivious of Tsvangirai's executive shortcomings . . ."

Said Traub-Merz: "We're aware of Morgan's administrative capacity limitations. But, we don't really care much about it because we need him for the politics. Tsvangirai, so far is our best bargaining chip against (President Robert) Mugabe."

Thus the workers' cause that had been stolen by Tsvangirai was in turn pilfered by the West who saw an opportunity to make a go at President Mugabe who, not satisfied with defeating colonialism, sought to challenge the white status quo by redistributing the land.

That was one of the main subjects of the constitutional deliberations that were going on at the time.

So when MDC and its allies in the civil society including the NCA and students unions ensured a "NO" vote in the referendum in February 2000, it was the ultimate step for Tsvangirai and his gang to be accepted and used by the West. That was the "Yellow Card" moment against President Mugabe who could be shown the stands in the forthcoming general election.

The result was the change in fortunes for the MDC and its becoming the rallying point for retrogressive forces of colonial extraction.

Muzhuzha graphically captures it thus:

"I had witnessed the MDC sputter from May 1999 to end (of) January 2000, so, the immediate aftermath of the referendum meant that Tsvangirai and company had delivered their end of the bargain to foreign and local white masters, for a lot of money began to come their way to commence an elaborate campaign against the aspirations of millions of citizens, disguised as a movement for democratic change in Zimbabwe.

"That positive change in the MDC's coffers meant that foreign money, as well as that of local white farmers and industrialists, had started to flow in towards a single agenda that had not been revealed at the May 1999 conventions that led to the birth of the MDC.

"Desperate for to sustain his political agenda, Tsvangirai had rallied his clique and sold out to the same sinister interests behind the ruinous Esap, the oppressive colonial rule, the continued unfair local white privileges and the devastating economic sanctions.

"Indeed all anti-Zimbabwe interests rolled into one gigantic onslaught against the democratic will of millions of Zimbabweans..."

MDC, breaking from Chester House, the labour centre, says Muzhuzha, showed its true colours: "that it was a local white and Western-driven political party headed by a black man without the required national executive capacity to move forward Zimbabwe's desire for democratic change."

The British government, through then British Minister for Africa Lord Triesman, even weighed in support of MDC saying Britain would not sit back and watch anti-Mugabe forces move on their own.

"Unthinkable," he averred, "Of course not."

And that was years before WikiLeaks.

Tsvangirai and his MDC thus became a Trojan horse in challenging the revolutionary Zanu-PF and President Mugabe which eventually led to the formation of the inclusive Government in 2009 after a hung parliament and inconclusive presidential elections.
But the fact that only two members of his party sit in Cabinet, Thokozani Khupe who is the Deputy Premier and labour Minister Paurina Gwanyanya Mpariwa out of a possible 20, speaks a lot about how Tsvangirai has abandoned the workers in the sweet enjoyment of power.

One of the major highlights of "A travesty of democracy" is its portrayal of Tsvangirai as a tribalist who from his days at the ZCTU surrounded himself with loyalists from his Karanga tribe.
As secretary-general and involved in the daily administration, he faced no threat from the likes of Gibson Sibanda, his president who was domiciled in Bulawayo and came but occassionally to Harare.
Even then, the powerful Bulawayo branch was significantly peopled with Karangas.
It is one of those traits in Tsvangirai, which would shame all those who say the man is a democrat.
In fact, his being a dictator and tribalist is said to have caused the split in the party on October 12, 2005.
Some of the familiar names that Tsvangirai had in the ugly tribal embrace at the ZCTU and later at the inaugural congress in January 2000 include Tapiwa Mashakada, Isaac Matongo, Nelson Chamisa, Lucia Matibenga, Tendai Biti, Sekai Holland, Learnmore Jongwe, and Job Sikhala.
He even diluted another Ndebele tribal force that centred along the likes of Sibanda, Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, Welshman Ncube, among others.
Muzhuzha says of Tsvangirai: "so not only is he whole-heartedly fascinated with men and women of his tribe, but he laso sometimes, willy nilly, manipulates his party's processes to favour persons not of similar origins, as long as such persons serve the main selfish interest: to hold the reigns (sic) of power tightly and undisputedly, whereever he goes."
The configuration of Harare's parliamentary seats speaks volumes about Tsvangirai's ways.
Muzhuzha reports that when the MDC made its debut parliamentary fight, of the 20 seats for a cosmopolitan Harare where there were many tribes and colours, no Asian, Coloured, Ndebele, Manyika, Mutoko person made it into the 20 Parly seats reserved for Harare.
Of these, Muzhuzha reports, one went to Zanu-PF and the others save for two which went to Mike Auret and Trudy Stevenson got, went to Tsvangirai's Karanga henchmen.
There was no similar joy for trade unionists who only had two representatives in the line up.
Some things might have changed but the central tribal dynamic subsists with replacement for incumbents being conveniently replaced by Karanga's.
When the inclusive Government line up on Tsvangirai's side was set up, it was as tribally coloured.
These include: Tendai Biti, Elton Mangoma, Tapiwa Mashakada, Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, Paurina Gwanyanya-Mpariwa, Henry Madzorera, Nelson Chamisa, Fidelis Mhashu, Heneri Dzinotyiwei, Jameson Timba, Sekai Holland, Obert Gutu, Sesel Zvidzai, Tichaona Mudzingwa and Tongai Matutu.
Muzhuzha adds that in late August 2010 a mini-reshuffle produced the promotion of Mashakada, Gutu and Matutu.
Such is the politics of Tsvangirai, a clear travesty of democracy that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth from a beautifully written book, written from an insider's perspective.

Labels: MDC, SAP

posted by MrK @ 4:23 AM