Maravi

ZIMPAPERS) Tsvangirai benefited from tribalism

(Sunday, 23 October 2011 01:52 Local News
By Kuda Bwititi

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai ascended to the helm of the MDC ahead of his late trade union movement superior, Mr Gibson Sibanda, on tribal grounds instead of leadership credentials, it has emerged. This revelation is captured in Mr Tsvangirai’s memoirs, “At the Deep End”.

In the book, published last month, the Prime Minister admits he was surprised to be nominated to the powerful post at the party’s launch in 1999. He also concedes that Mr Sibanda, then Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president, was the suitable candidate.

Mr Tsvangirai suggests the leader of the umbrella labour body was, however, sidelined because strategists felt his Ndebele origins made him an unsaleable brand.

Mr Paul Themba Nyathi is said to have told Mr Tsvangirai that: “A person from the Ndebele tribe was not ripe to lead the MDC.”

Mr Tsvangirai at that time was the ZCTU secretary-general.

Part of the book reads: “But there is a general consensus that you must lead the MDC. Gibson (Sibanda) has done a lot as well.

“But it is important for you to realise that in the game there is more to leadership selection and choice than just hard work. Gibson is from Bulawayo, you know what I mean. He (Paul Themba Nyathi) said indicating that a person from a minority Ndebele tribe, perhaps the time was not yet ripe for Sibanda to run the MDC.”

Mr Tsvangirai said he was left in a quandary as he had no idea how he would work with Mr Sibanda as his subordinate.

“For many years I had been guided by Sibanda and the ZCTU general council in my work. Sibanda was a man I respected tremendously. How could he suddenly become my subordinate, in whatever capacity?”

Political analyst and National University of Science and Technology Dean of Communication and Information Science Lawton Hikwa said Mr Tsvangirai’s statements were retrogressive.

“A progressive institution should not look at the leadership through tribal lenses because leadership should be based on qualities,” he said.

“As a country, we should move ahead of such perceptions and perhaps investigate the consequences of such trends.”

Mr Tsvangirai said his elevation to the post of secretary-general in ZCTU was another accident, as he only attained the position after a last-minute pullout by former Sunday Mail Editor Charles Chikerema.

“The popular candidate for the post of ZCTU secretary-general was ZUJ (Zimbabwe Union of Journalists) president . . . On the eve of the election Chikerema backed out,” the book states.

In the book Mr Tsvangirai exposes his lack of courage to participate in the liberation struggle despite the fact he was at the right age and many of his peers left their families to take part in the war.

On Page 48, Mr Tsvangirai portrays himself as a “newspaper guerrilla” as he claims that he closely followed the liberation struggle through Press reports.

“Although I was far away from the armed action in the north-east, I was a close follower of politics and the war and an avid reader and current affairs fanatic. The intense Rhodesian information and propaganda campaign projected Bindura on the national map as being at the centre of the war.”

Mr Tsvangirai also claimed that he failed to participate in the war because he had a family to look after, an assertion that was laughed off by a war veteran.

“So he thinks that we did not have families as well? We sacrificed our lives because we loved our country and we put the country first. What it means is that the country is not his top priority; he is the same person who wants to be the leader of the same country that he failed to defend,” the war veteran said.

On his role in the ZCTU, Tsvangirai astonishingly beat his chest and demeaned his colleagues, saying 38 senior members of the ZCTU lacked depth and he was the only who compiled a draft report.

“Reflecting on the offer took my mind back to 1986 when I had spent six weeks on study tour in Moscow with 38 other union leaders. I worked closely with them during the time and got to know them well.

“When we compiled a report for our Government, I realised that most of my colleagues lacked the necessary depth to understand complex governance issues. I ended up doing the draft alone, which they gladly endorsed without any amendments,” he said.

Cde Kumbirai Kangai, who was the Minister of Labour between 1980 and 1984, said Tsvangirai’s claims were outrageous as there were many influential figures in the ZCTU.

“As a ministry, we were very influential in the formation of the ZCTU and in my tenure as minister responsible for labour issues, I only knew Tsvangirai just like any member of the ZCTU. I think he is just denigrating the other ZCTU members to get mileage,” he said.

Other issues in the book include the Prime Minister’s glaring confession that he was totally unaware of the run-off clause when he participated in the 2008 Presidential election.

Tsvangirai also boasts about being a regular drinker. - The Sunday Mail

Labels: BIOGRAPHY, MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, TRIBALISM

posted by MrK @ 5:02 PM