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(NEWZIMBABWE BLOG) Violence: MDC-T’s mask has fallen

Violence: MDC-T’s mask has fallen
By Psychology Maziwisa
Politics Last updated on: June 14, 2011

IF LEFT unconfronted, the culture of violence brewing within Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T will plunge Zimbabwe into a sewer, the darkest and most disgusting epoch in its entire history. It is no way to run a political party let alone a country that has peace and tranquility amongst its virtues.

Not that thoughtful people have ever been under any illusion about the fact that the MDC-T is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Not so long ago, Morgan Tsvangirai warned President Mugabe: “If you don’t want to go peacefully, we will remove you violently.” That really was the defining moment, wasn’t it? It was a proclamation that spoke of a party intent on betraying the very values it claims to pledge steadfast allegiance to.

Since then, numerous reports of violence have been made even within the MDC-T itself where the charlatans fight less over policy formulation and more for power and positions. Has Tsvangirai no shame? Have Biti and Nelson Chamisa not embarrassed their party? And the MDC-T is supposed to be the party of excellence? Anyone who believes these impostors must believe in Santa.

Undoubtedly, the recent cases of violence call for all and sundry to now look not at what the MDC-T says it is but to consider the record, to look at the facts. It’s possible to ignore isolated cases because politics will always be politics. But it’s difficult to overlook violence that spans years. It’s harder when it has been perpetrated across the entire nation and on an unconscionable scale.

As things stand, the entire MDC-T leadership has shown itself to be not just dishonourable and amoral but unprincipled and shameful too. Without further ado, they ought all to bury their heads in the sand. Having lived a double life all these years, all this time, it’s the least they can do. And they can forget about winning elections in this country. No sober citizen can vote into power a party with huge question marks against its name. Better to go for the tried and tested.

Make no mistake, the recent MDC-T congress was not just a farce and an affront to democracy for it entrenched Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti in their positions, but it was also bloody and fraught with violence because it left one person dead and scores more injured. Has Tsvangirai set up the committees needed to probe the violence committed before, during and after that congress? If these guys are the future of this wonderful and peace-loving nation, then God please help us all.

Quite recently, a Kuwadzana-based MDC-T activist died tragically in a car accident and no sooner had the mourners, who all were of MDC-T affiliation by the way, embarked on the road to lay him to rest than they savagely assaulted peaceful Zanu PF bystanders at the Boka Tobacco Auction Floors. Nothing at all shows that the MDC-T thugs were provoked. Everything indicates that they were merely bloodthirsty and eager for a kill.

Hardly a few days after that incident, an unarmed police officer lost his precious life in Glen View after attempting to disperse a group of violent MDC-T activists. The chronology of events is very telling and the sequence of violence bare for those with open eyes to observe. Consequently, only a fool would accept MDC-T’s plea of not guilty as honest. What else do you expect them to say: that they are actually responsible for the violence this country has seen in the recent past?

Ordinarily, these occurrences ought to invite censure. Yet, for a long time, political hostility in this country has been condemned by word and not by action. That needs to change.

Nor can SADC continue to whistle into the wind and hope to escape criticism. It’s insistence over the weekend on the implementation of the Global Political Agreement is a step in the right direction. But that alone may not be enough. MDC-T’s culture of violence needs special attention. To that end, the regional bloc has a crucial decision to make: does it confront the dangers that presently threaten scores of innocent people or does it continue to turn a blind eye to acts of aggression that now target even members of the police force? It’s a decision that must be made right now or never. Time is of the essence.

For a protracted period, the MDC-T has spread complete and blatant lies about the state of violence in this country let alone the identity of the perpetrators, yet that mendacity has been accepted almost as conclusive by SADC. This is no time for SADC to sleep on the job. Minds need to be properly applied and all claims of violence looked at not just politically but forensically. If justice is to be served, then it’s vital to catch the right culprits. And, as things stand, all the available evidence points in one direction — Harvest House. The rest is hot air.

It is laughable for example that, in this period of technological advancement, where even the ugliest woman around could be made to look like Beyonce and Pope John Paul to look like the late Osama Bin Laden, Roy Bennett (a nasty schemer and a well known regime change agenda proponent) can have his photographic posts on so-called freezimbabwe.com taken literally. Naivety has not just been part of the problem; it’s been the main problem.

Time is up for treating hearsay evidence as conclusive proof. Time is up for treating the nice guys as the bad guys and the nasty guys as the sweet guys. It’s time to look at things more objectively, to regard the facts and to allow them to speak for themselves.

Certainly, it’s time for the relevant people here to tackle the culture of violence developing within the MDC-T and, going forward, for SADC to treat whatever evidence of alleged Zanu PF violence brought before it not just with an open mind but also with the greatest of circumspection.

Labels: MDC VIOLENCE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 5:53 AM