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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) EDITORIAL COMMENT: Proposed joint rallies a recipe for disaster

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Proposed joint rallies a recipe for disaster
Saturday, 07 January 2012 21:34

Last week it was reported that leaders of the three political parties in the inclusive Government will next month hold joint rallies to urge their supporters to refrain from violence.

It was reported that the three leaders — President Robert Mugabe (Zanu-PF), Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T) and Professor Welshman Ncube (MDC-M) — would use the rallies to preach co-existence and tolerance ahead of elections.

The reports went further saying the scheduled rallies were a follow-up to the indaba on violence that was held in Harare in November last year that drew the three leaders together.

On the surface, this sounds like a brilliant idea that will bring Zimbabweans together and show the world that we are one, but honestly instead of creating an atmosphere for co-existence and tolerance, the rallies could end up doing the exact opposite.

If Zimbabwean politics had not been polluted by outsiders, if all the political parties were truly Zimbabwean, if all the political parties had total control of their supporters and if all the political parties could put the interests of Zimbabweans first, then these rallies would have been a welcome move.

Unfortunately, the British and Americans have polluted our politics, unfortunately all the MDC formations are puppet political parties, unfortunately history clearly shows that the MDC formations can’t control their hooligans and unfortunately the MDC formations put the interests of their sponsors first.

With all due respect, these rallies can’t work and won’t work. Instead, the rallies may spark serious violence.

Picture this — President Mugabe is about to give his speech, rowdy MDC supporters, as they always do, interrupt him and war veterans are in attendance.

Obviously, war veterans won’t take this barbaric disrespect of their leader lying down and violence will naturally erupt.

It’s not a secret that the MDC formations are violent political parties and that their leaders have no control over some of their supporters.

If the MDC-T supporters could disrespect their leaders by unleashing violence during the party’s congress in Bulawayo, what guarantee can PM Tsvangirai give that his thugs will not unleash violence during the proposed rallies?

Yes, Zanu-PF secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa confirmed that the party leaders would jointly address the rallies and MDC-M secretary-general Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga supported the idea while MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora said his party welcomed the idea, but this doesn’t look like a wise move at all.
Let me make it clear here that we are against violence and we want the political parties to find ways of stopping violence, but the rallies are not the solution.

Just the statement by MDC-T spokesperson Mr Mwonzora regarding the issue is enough testimony that the rallies won’t work.

He said: “We also want to know in what order they will speak, i.e. are they going to speak in alphabetical order, are they going to use their ages or their Government positions in taking turns to speak?”

Instead of worrying about the message that will be delivered at the rallies, Mr Mwonzora and his party are already worried about the petty issue of who will speak first? If the MDC-T spokersperson is only worried about who will speak first, surely what about the party’s supporters on the ground? If the leadership is being petty, the supporters will obviously be rowdy.

Why subject President Mugabe to such childish play? It’s agreed that despite being a puppet political party, the MDC is now a player in the country’s politics, but that is no guarantee to throw President Mugabe before the little and easily excitable puppets whose penchant for violence in legendary. NO!

Elections are around the corner and each political party should take its policies and programmes to the people. These proposed rallies will be used as “ambush” tactics to introduce puppets to the people.

President Mugabe, PM Tsvangirai and Prof Ncube can come out together on television and radio urging their supporters to refrain from violence or the three can come up with one speech urging co-existence and tolerance. This is workable and more practical than the potentially explosive rallies that can degenerate into chaos, leaving the police with no option but to use force to restore order.

Rallies by their nature are emotional gatherings and there is no way Zanu-PF supporters can be at the same rally with MDC supporters. This is a recipe for disaster.

Again, let us make things clear here — we are not saying Zanu-PF supporters can’t live with MDC supporters.

All we are saying is supporters of these parties can’t attend the same rally because at rallies emotions run high.

Zanu-PF has its own ideology and the hope is that the MDC formations have by now found their ideology, but whatever the case, these parties can preach the same message even if it is about stopping violence.

Due to their backgrounds, the three political parties don’t agree on what really causes the violence and they don’t agree on who are the perpetrators of the violence and so it would be absurd to think the three leaders can hold rallies to address the issue of violence.

Efforts to stop violence and encourage co-existence are welcome, but this idea of rallies will produce unintended consequences that may boomerang against the country.

Labels: DEMONSTRATION, MDC VIOLENCE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 4:51 PM